OCC Deals Wise a Public Blow, Rejecting US Trust Bank Charter Over AML Failings
OCC Deals Wise a Public Blow, Rejecting US Trust Bank Charter Over AML Failings #
The OCC formally denied Wise’s application to charter a national trust bank in the United States, citing serious compliance failures in the company’s anti-money laundering controls. Shares in the London-based company fell between 7 and 9 percent after the disclosure on Friday, July 24.
The OCC notified Wise on July 23, 2026, that it would not approve its application, filed in June 2025, to establish Wise National Trust, a proposed non-depository bank to be headquartered in Austin, Texas. In his decision letter, OCC deputy comptroller Stephen Lybarger described the application as presenting “significant supervisory and compliance concerns,” citing deficiencies in the company’s Bank Secrecy Act, anti-money laundering, and countering the financing of terrorism programs.
A multistate enforcement action that emerged after the application was submitted played a central role in the decision. In July 2025, Wise US entered into a consent order with six state regulators and agreed to pay $4.2 million to settle allegations related to flaws in how the company addressed certain AML requirements. California separately issued its own consent order. Lybarger acknowledged that enforcement actions do not automatically determine charter outcomes but concluded the application should not be reconsidered until Wise has addressed existing deficiencies and built a more robust enterprise-wide compliance program. The OCC also noted that the proposed organizers had not demonstrated sufficient familiarity with federal banking laws and regulations.
The denial is the first public rejection of a major fintech’s charter bid in the current cycle, according to Banking Dive. The OCC has approved more than two dozen trust charter applications this year, including for crypto-native firms such as Circle, Ripple, and Paxos.
A separate complication arose in May 2026 when the Federal Reserve proposed pausing master account approval for uninsured trust banks, a change that undermined the structure of Wise’s original application, which had relied on securing direct Federal Reserve master account access to settle US dollar payments.
Wise said the OCC’s decision does not affect its existing US operations, which continue under money-transmitter licenses across 48 states and four territories. In a statement, the company said it intends to submit a new application under a framework tied to the GENIUS Act, the recently enacted US stablecoin legislation.
Copy link