District Court Strikes Down Bank Regulator’s Fintech Charter (1)

A federal judge ruled in favor of New York’s financial regulator in entering a final judgment against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s bid to let fintech companies obtain a banking charter.

The Oct. 21 ruling concerns two nearly-identical proposed final judgments to resolve the litigation over the agency’s authority under the National Bank Act to allow fintech lenders and payments companies to apply for a non-deposit taking federal bank charter.

The judgment submitted by the New York Department of Financial Services would prevent the OCC from offering the charter to any applicants, while the OCC’s version would ...