OCC Action Touches Off Fintech Turf War

Beneath all the excitement surrounding the fast-growing “fintech” industry has been a more practical question: who, exactly, is going to regulate this new breed of enterprise?

The U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency offered one answer recently, announcing its intention to grant national bank charters to fintech companies. The OCC action would allow companies that gain charters to operate nationwide. Equally significant, it would result in state-level preemption. Chartered fintech companies could be free of capital requirements imposed by states, for instance, as well as state consumer protection laws such as those prohibiting usury, capping interest rates, and outlawing payday loans.