Wise Plans Second U.S. Bank Charter Bid After OCC Rejection
By CU Today Staff —
LONDON— Wise plans to submit a second application for a U.S. national trust bank charter after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rejected its original bid, saying the application no longer fit the evolving U.S. regulatory landscape and citing compliance shortcomings identified during its review.
The decision does not affect Wise's existing U.S. money transmission business, which continues to operate under state licenses, according to the company and Reuters.
Wise said its original application, filed in June 2025, was designed to give the company direct access to Federal Reserve payment rails to settle U.S. dollar transactions. But after the Federal Reserve paused granting master account access to uninsured trust banks, that strategy became "non-viable," prompting the company to pursue a new application under the recently enacted GENIUS Act framework governing digital assets and stablecoins. Reuters reported Wise believes its payments infrastructure is well positioned to work alongside stablecoin-based payment systems.
The OCC's decision also pointed to deficiencies in Wise's anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) program, as well as concerns about its proposed risk management framework and management team's banking experience, according to the OCC decision cited by the Financial Times. The regulator also referenced a 2025 multistate consent order involving Wise's U.S. operations. Wise said it has since strengthened its compliance, investigation, reporting and customer due diligence processes and invested significantly in financial crime controls.
Originally reported by CU Today.