Trade groups that work on behalf of banks and credit unions warned the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency against creating a payments charter; the OCC has come under fire and has received a lot of pushback for the fintech charter, which has yet to receive any applications; “We have serious concerns around the recent discussion of a narrow-purpose payments charter. These charters could introduce serious risks that would undermine the valuable role that national banks play in our dynamic economy,” the financial trade groups wrote in the letter dated Wednesday according to American Banker; the letter brings up a number of concerns including regulatory arbitrage and ambiguity around whether companies granted the charter would be supervised as bank holding companies; acting OCC Head Brian Brooks tells American Banker, “We want to be able to continue to ensure the safety and soundness of the system without letting the core activities bleed into the shadow banking system, where it has now gone.” American banker.
