The fintech charter is the common name for a special purpose national bank charter that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency offered to financial technology companies. The agency announced the idea in December 2016 and said in July 2018 that it would accept applications. A holder would lend or process payments nationwide under one federal regulator and federal law, without taking deposits or obtaining deposit insurance, and without needing a money transmitter license or lending license in each state.
State regulators opposed the plan as exceeding the agency's authority. The Conference of State Bank Supervisors and the New York State Department of Financial Services sued; a federal district court sided with New York in 2019, and an appeals court dismissed the case in 2021 on procedural grounds. No company received the charter in that form. Fintech firms seeking federal status have instead pursued full national bank charters, national trust charters or an industrial loan company.