In light of an increase in charter applications from nonbank digital asset firms, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) today urged the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to keep in mind several key principles when considering such applications.
In a letter to the OCC, ICBA noted that applications from nonbank digital asset-related entities seeking to establish full-service national banks or limited-purpose national banks pose unique challenges to bank chartering policy and to the safety and soundness of the financial system. Given these heightened risks, ICBA urged the OCC to consider the following principles:
- Nonbank digital asset entrants to banking pose unique risks to the financial systems with regard to illicit activities, financial stability, and resolution issues.
- The OCC must ensure sufficient supervisory and regulatory safeguards are in place for all national banks and maintain longstanding legal limits on permissible activities for national trust banks.
- Applications should be thoroughly reviewed with adequate information and time made available for the public to meaningfully comment, and applications must be denied if statutory requirements cannot be satisfied.
- Customers must be safeguarded from potential conflicts of interest that are likely to arise when digital asset market participants operate banks.
- Companies engaged in commercial activities should not be allowed to own full-service or limited purpose banks in violation of the longstanding U.S. policy of maintaining the separation of banking and commerce.
“ICBA and the nation’s community bankers strongly encourage the OCC to consider the potential risks posed by granting national bank charters to nonbank digital asset firms, particularly for trust banks, which are not required to meet the same kinds of regulatory and capital standards that apply to federally insured full-service banks,” ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey said today. “Given these unique challenges, ICBA’s principles for considering such applications are essential to striking the right balance between innovation and the need to protect both financial stability and consumers.”