U.K. Fintech Monzo Applies for Federal Banking Charter

The Covid-19 pandemic isn’t slowing fintech company applications to become full fledged banks.

Monzo, a fintech bank headquartered in the U.K., has applied for a standard banking charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to expand its operations in the U.S., the company and the OCC confirmed Friday.

The economic fallout from the coronavirus shouldn’t have a long-term impact on Monzo’s ability to launch or operate, the company said in an addendum to its April 20 charter application, much of which was prepared in 2019.

“The organizers are hopeful that the majority of disruption will have ...