FinTechs and Automakers Pursue Bank Charters to Expand Lending

The 21st century has seen a shift in how nonbanks enter the financial system.

During 2025, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) received 14 de novo charter applications, a number nearly equaling the total applications received by the OCC throughout the previous four years combined, according to Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould.

Those numbers have only been growing since the start of 2026.

It was reported Friday (Jan. 23) that, in light of the changing charter landscape, United Kingdom-headquartered FinTech Revolut dropped plans to buy a United States bank and is now preparing to pursue a standalone U.S. banking license. Also on Friday, buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Affirm announced its own plans to establish a bank subsidiary, called Affirm Bank, applying to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to establish a Nevada-chartered industrial loan company.

A day earlier, the FDIC approved deposit insurance applications submitted by Ford and General Motors to establish their own respective Utah-chartered industrial banks.

Taken together, these moves point to a structural change in how nonbanks seek permanence inside the regulated financial system, with government approval becoming viewed as an asset, not an obstacle.

Read also: Capitol Hill Examines Rulemaking as Nonbanks Gain Ground

The Long Detour to Becoming a Bank

For years after the 2008 financial crisis, becoming a bank was less a business strategy than a regulatory dare. New charters were rare, acquisitions were expensive, and the stigma of banking regulation loomed large over Silicon Valley. FinTechs learned to grow without charters, relying instead on sponsor banks, warehouse lines and capital markets.

For the bulk of that time, banking and payments industry observers witnessed only a handful of cases of nonbanks crossing the charter Rubicon.

Varo in 2020 became the first consumer FinTech to receive a de novo national bank charter from the OCC, while Block (Square) took a different route altogether, launching Square Financial Services in 2021 as an industrial loan company (ILC).

LendingClub and SoFi took the acquisition path, with LendingClub acquiring Radius Bank in 2021 and SoFi doing the same in 2022 by buying Golden Pacific Bancorp.

The floodgates have since opened. PayPal last month applied to the Utah Department of Financial Institutions and the FDIC to create PayPal Bank, a proposed Utah-chartered ILC. In June, Nissan North America’s financial services arm, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp., submitted its own ILC application.

On Jan. 12, digital payments provider Checkout.com secured approval for a Georgia bank charter for its Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank. On Jan. 7, Amsterdam-based neobank bunq filed for a de novo banking license from the OCC.

According to PYMNTS Intelligence, 62% of Generation Z consumers said they would consider using a neobank as their primary bank account provider, “a striking level of openness that outpaces all other generations,” PYMNTS reported in October.

The OCC also received seven digital asset licensing applications from entities planning to offer digital asset products or services in 2025, and five of them were conditionally approved. Many of the OCC applications were for national trust charters, which permit firms to custody assets within the federal framework but don’t allow them to take deposits or lend.

See also: Regulations Are On Hold. Does That Mean More FinTechs Will Look to Become Neobanks?

The New Competitive Truth as Acquisitions Lose Their Shine

The early FinTech-to-bank conversions relied heavily on acquisitions. Buying an existing bank offered speed and regulatory certainty, but it also imported legacy systems, cultural mismatches and balance sheet constraints designed for a different era. At a congressional hearing in February, Rep. French Hill of Arkansas, who chairs the House Committee on Financial Services, said there had been only 82 new bank charters granted since 2010.

A bank charter “is not a trophy, and it certainly isn’t a product label, but it’s a public trust,” Rodney E. Hood, former acting comptroller of the currency, told Competition Policy International, a PYMNTS company, in a January interview.

“A federal charter should never be construed as an end run around supervision, and it should certainly never be a pathway to scale without accountability,” he added.

As charter approvals resume, the acquisition route is losing some of its appeal. De novo charters allow companies to design institutions around their business models, which are digital-first, credit-centric, and integrated with parent platforms.

ILCs, for example, allow access to insured deposits and direct lending authority without subjecting the parent company to Federal Reserve supervision. In plain terms, they deliver bank-grade funding economics without full bank holding company constraints.

This matters for competition. A purpose-built credit bank attached to a large platform can move faster, price more sharply, and adapt more quickly than a peer or competitor struggling with technical debt.

Nonbanks are not becoming banks to look like incumbents. They are becoming banks to outcompete them, especially in credit, where balance sheets matter more than branding.

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