Major U.S. banks weigh legal challenge to OCC over national trust charters for crypto and fintech firms

The Bank Policy Institute (BPI), representing 40 large U.S. banks including JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup, is considering filing a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over what it views as relaxed licensing standards for crypto and fintech companies, The Guardian reports. BPI argues that Jonathan Gould, a Trump-appointed Comptroller at the OCC, is reinterpreting federal charter rules to ease access to a "national bank trust charter", allowing such firms to operate across all 50 U.S. states without sufficient regulation, consumer safeguards, or systemic oversight. The group urged the OCC in October to reject charter applications from Circle, Ripple, and payments firm Wise, while World Liberty Financial, a crypto company linked to the Trump family, applied for a similar charter in January. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors, representing regulators from all 50 states, and the Independent Community Bankers of America, representing 5,000 small banks, have also voiced strong opposition to the OCC's approach.