Fintech · Industry brief

Revolut, a UK fintech company operating in more than 39 countries, received conditional OCC approval for a full-service national bank charter. Wise's national trust bank charter application was denied in late July by the OCC due to compliance and AML concerns. Zerohash's national trust bank charter application was returned by the OCC as materially deficient; the firm reapplied with a characterization change to one activity as "fiduciary." Block applied for a national trust bank charter this week to provide custody and fiduciary services including for bitcoin and stablecoins. OpenReserve, backed by Andreessen Horowitz, received preliminary conditional OCC approval for a full-service national bank charter to offer tokenized deposits and digital asset custody. The OCC rejected Bunq's national bank charter application citing significant supervisory and compliance concerns and questions about capitalization and profitability in the U.S. market. The OCC, Federal Reserve, FDIC and NCUA proposed updated third-party risk management guidance to help banking organizations better align practices with assessed risk levels for third-party relationships such as IT vendors. The FDIC and OCC issued a final rule codifying the definition of unsafe and unsound practices and establishing uniform standards for Matters Requiring Attention. The Federal Reserve's AML/CFT program proposal diverges from other banking agencies' proposals, creating potential inconsistency in supervision by failing to give FinCEN a coordinating role in AML/CFT examination.

On August 27, 2026, the OCC and FDIC jointly adopted a Final Rule defining "unsafe or unsound practice" and establishing standards for issuing Matters Requiring Attention (MRAs) to supervised institutions, effective November 2, 2026. The Final Rule codifies a definition requiring that practices be contrary to generally accepted standards of prudent operation and likely to materially harm financial condition or present material risk to the Deposit Insurance Fund. The agencies declined to specify quantitative thresholds for materiality, instead requiring examiners to justify determinations based on objective facts and sound reasoning. The rule mandates tailoring supervisory activities based on institution size, complexity, and risk profile, with higher materiality thresholds for community banks than larger institutions. Concurrently, the OCC proposed a separate rule to codify standards for "substantive violations" of banking law—distinguishing them from "technical violations"—limiting MRA issuance to substantive violations while prohibiting requirements beyond remediation for technical violations. The OCC also removed "Appendix C" provisions addressing persistent weaknesses at large banks and revised its Enforcement Action and MRA Policies and Procedures Manuals to align with the Final Rule's risk-focused supervision framework. The Federal Reserve, while not adopting the rule, has pursued similar standards through internal policy updates. Source: Sullivan & Cromwell memo citing 91 Fed. Reg. 56,004 (Final Rule) and 91 Fed. Reg. 56,074 (OCC Proposal); OCC Bulletin 2026-41.

The OCC issued proposed guidance to tailor third-party risk management requirements for community banks based on actual risk rather than one-size-fits-all approaches, moving away from overly broad, process-driven methods. Comptroller Jonathan V. Gould announced the proposal as part of broader regulatory relief efforts, stating the OCC is "cutting unnecessary regulatory friction" and tailoring supervision to actual risk to help community banks manage critical third-party relationships and serve customers more effectively. The agency also provided clarity on risk-based supervision and enforcement of core service providers to address due diligence and monitoring challenges community banks face. Additional actions include expanding expedited licensing procedures, simplifying Community Reinvestment Act requirements, and broadening exam cycle eligibility for smaller institutions. (Source: OCC announcement)