Industrial banks or industrial loan companies (ILCs)—FDIC-insured banks chartered by certain states, notably Utah—have long been a niche component of the U.S. financial system. These institutions may be owned by commercial...more
In the absence of modern charters and licenses, payments companies and other fintechs—both established financial services providers and new market entrants—must generally obtain 50+ money transmitter and possibly other state...more
Becoming or owning an industrial loan company (or ILC)—the elusive "nonbank bank" option, as Congress coined the term in 1987— still has an allure for financial services providers that want to (1) lend on a national scale...more
An industrial bank or industrial loan company (each, an ILC) charter can be an attractive option for a financial technology company (fintech) or other company seeking to enter the banking space. In June 2024, the Federal...more
The President’s Working Group on Financial Markets (PWG), together with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), released a much-anticipated Report on...more
Court Rules that Debt Collector Violated FDCPA with Communication to Dunning Vendor - A federal appellate court has recently ruled that a debt collector violated certain privacy requirements under the federal Fair Debt...more
On July 31, 2020, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) approved the national bank charter application of Varo Bank, N.A., a wholly-owned subsidiary of fintech Varo Money, Inc. The approved application is for a...more
On March 17, the FDIC released for public comment a proposed rule for industrial banks and industrial loan companies (together, “ILCs”) and their parent companies and signaled that it is considering two pending ILC...more
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced on July 31 that it will begin accepting applications for special purpose national bank charters from nondepository financial technology companies (fintechs) that are...more
On July 31, 2018 the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced that, effective immediately, it is now accepting national bank charter applications from nondepository financial technology (fintech) companies...more
An ILC, or industrial loan company, is a form of bank that can be chartered in Utah, Nevada, and a few other states. ILCs are insured by the FDIC and have most traditional banking powers, but they cannot hold corporate...more
A topic of increasing interest in recent months and weeks has been whether and if fintech companies would seek to obtain a bank charter of some sort. The recent decisions by Social Finance Inc. (SoFi) and Square, Inc. to...more
On December 2, 2016, Comptroller of the Currency Thomas J. Curry announced that the OCC will move forward with considering granting federal charters—under the OCC’s existing authorities—to financial technology companies. ...more
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (the OCC) plans to consider applications from companies engaged in financial technology—or FinTech—activities to operate through a national bank charter and has released a paper...more