Topic
Licenses granted by state or federal regulators that authorize an institution to operate as a bank or trust company and define its permitted activities.
Proposed Basel III changes would replace the mortgage servicing asset deduction with a flat 250% risk weight, American Banker reports. Servicing-heavy nonbank lenders could find a bank charter more attractive, but approval takes years and is not guaranteed.
Reality
Mission Lane won conditional OCC approval for a CEBA credit card bank charter, the first of its kind in two decades according to adviser Klaros Group. The charter lets the subprime lender issue its own cards and export its rates free of state opt-outs, but it bars the small deposits that let full-service banks fund themselves cheaply.
Reality
Comptroller Jonathan Gould put a number on where charter capital is heading, and promised final GENIUS Act rules by November, weeks before the law takes effect.
Perspective Coverage
4 publishersReality
Bastion, Agora and Catena Labs won conditional national trust charters requiring $6 million or $10 million of working capital each, a low bar because trust banks do not lend. That makes eight such approvals before the GENIUS Act takes effect in January 2027.
Reality
Bastion, Catena and Agora are in the OCC's pipeline, and each is selling banks a federally supervised counterparty. The white-label stablecoins, AI-agent accounts and AUSD settlement come attached to the licence.
Reality
The OCC has conditionally approved Bastion Platforms National Trust Company to issue, custody and convert stablecoins on behalf of clients, a fee business housed inside a charter that bars deposits and FDIC cover.
Reality