Payments Innovators Seek Direct Access as De Novo Banking Activity Rebounds

In recent months, nonbanks have been applying for banking charters.

Against a backdrop where de novo activity has been muted through the past several years, regulators have been moving to ease the bank application process. In a speech earlier this year, FDIC Acting Chairman Travis Hill said that since the start of 2010, the total number of new banks formed over 15 years is 86, which averages to less than six annually. In previous years the average was 93, annually. Legislation introduced in the Senate this year, the “Promoting New Bank Formation Act of 2025,” would, among other things, give newer banks more time to meet capital requirements for those formations.

In Capitol Hill coverage, PYMNTS wrote that founders of newer banks told lawmakers that lengthy application processes stretched out over several months and presented challenges in terms of compliance with regulatory documentation.

The applications from the likes of Fiserv and Stripe point to interest from FinTechs in finding ways to secure inroads into processing transactions. In Georgia, the pursuit of Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank charters would help applicants expand their operations, but it’s important to note that the charters would not allow for lending.

Connecting New Banks to the Rails

In Nevada, the recent introduction of Assembly Bill 500, titled the “Nevada Payments Bank Act” would create new banks that exist for the purpose of money movement. The bill would let new banks connect, directly, to payments infrastructure including FedNow.

The door would be open, then, for FinTechs to connect directly to real-time rails. Beyond the scope of those firms, other nonbanks, including retailers, would be able to gain direct access to money movement, which, according to the bill’s sponsors, would lower transaction costs. Those lower costs would come through skirting interchange fees.

As for the limited scope of the activities of these new banks, they would be prohibited from “lending related” offerings and activities.

The Act notes that “a payments bank, with certain exceptions, has all the powers, privileges and authorities that a state bank or national bank has, including, engaging in money transmission, engaging in activities … and the conducting of merchant acquiring activities, which [means] …  effecting transactions within payment card networks.” The Act also notes that there’s a revenue stream created for the state, as the “bill requires a payments bank to pay to the Commissioner a fee equal to 0.0025 percent of each transaction effectuated through the merchant acquiring activities of the payments bank.”

In an exploration of money movement ecosystems, PYMNTS Intelligence wrote, “At its core, the money mobility ecosystem revolves around four key elements: the payment; the account; the funding mechanics of money in, money out; and the clearing, settlement and reconciliation of the flow of funds in and out.” The direct connection to the payment rails and the card rails, as these charters are pursued and granted, would allow these (limited in scope) banks to serve merchants in new ways and in turn, forge stickier relationships with those merchants.