Fintech’s fast pass to traditional banking is now cut off
Tech start-ups trying to become banks will now have to take a slower, more traditional route.
Fintech companies had welcomed a special bank charter that cleared a quicker path for them to become a bank. But that was dealt a blow this week as a federal district court in New York decided that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the regulator issuing the charters, didn’t have the authority to do so.
The ruling highlights the sometimes murky nature of tech companies getting into banking. It also means that finance start-ups will have to go through the same drawn out process as everyone else.
