Comptroller of the Currency Joseph Otting said in a press conference Wednesday morning that there is a place in the banking world for some kind of fintech charter, though the exact parameters of such a charter are still unclear and have to be worked out.
Washington Federal in Chicago, which had a clean balance sheet and plenty of capital on Sept. 30, was shuttered shortly after the death of its CEO and regulators' discovery of "substantial dissipation of assets."
The dismissal of a lawsuit challenging the creation of a fintech charter gives the agency more time to refine its policy, but the court ruling may set up future legal challenges.
A district court judge said the state’s suit against Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is premature because the agency has not finalized its fintech charter nor has any firm applied for it.
The industry derides the proprietary trading ban as costly, and the Trump administration has heard those concerns. Yet regulators must choose between subtle though expedient pin-prick changes versus a more drastic overhaul.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is eliminating a plan designed to ensure its examiners did not get too close to the big banks they supervise.
Critics argue that the consumer bureau's independence is being undermined, and they worry that a precedent is being established that could hamper the autonomy of other U.S. financial regulators.
The nomination of Jelena McWilliams to chair the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. moves the Trump administration one step closer to completing its team of regulatory appointments in its push to undo former President Obama's post-crisis policies.
