Meetings between bank regulators and technology giants like Amazon and PayPal underscore Silicon Valley's growing involvement in the financial services arena, and may presage pursuit of a bank charter.
Arthur Levitt says seemingly daily scandals highlight the lack of oversight and corporate governance shortcomings of financial technology firms, but two marketplace lending executives responded that more mature companies have just as many problems.
The payments processor Square has big plans in banking — but even after filing an application to charter an industrial loan company, it still doesn’t see itself as a competitor to most financial institutions.
The Independent Community Bankers of America had initially called for a moratorium in response to SoFi's application, and says now that Square's bid "has significantly increased our concerns."
Many of the arguments in this debate have less to do with the applicants’ qualifications than with traditional banks’ fear of new, innovative competitors.
Readers opine on Square’s applying for an industrial loan company charter, the Federal Reserve’s role in faster payments, assumptions about operational security, and more.
Company is third fintech firm in the past few months to seek its own bank charter; vice chair’s departure gives Trump four vacancies to fill on the Federal Reserve Board.
