ICBA Newsroom

Following recent charter applications from entities in the digital asset space to establish full-service national banks or limited-purpose national banks, such as trust banks, ICBA told the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency that these kinds of applications pose unique challenges to bank-chartering policy as well as the safety and soundness of the financial system.

Given these heightened risks, ICBA urged the OCC to keep in mind the following key 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.

In a letter to the OCC, ICBA noted the recent charter applications from entities in the digital asset space, with applicants seeking to establish full-service national banks or limited purpose national banks. ICBA said applications of this sort pose unique challenges to not only bank chartering policy but also possibly to the safety and soundness of the financial system.