Following the Second Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision to throw out New York’s Department of Financial Services’ legal challenge to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s (OCC) fintech charter program, Online Lenders Alliance Executive Director Andrew Duke issued the following statement:
“The Online Lenders Alliance supported the OCC’s decision in 2018 to accept national bank charter applications for fintech companies, as we believed such a regime would offer the right level of supervision and regulatory consistency to ensure non-prime consumers were served appropriately and fairly. We still support that decision for the same reasons, and we applaud the Second Circuit for ruling that legal challenges to this program should be thrown out.
“This decision is an encouraging one, as the program provides a federal licensing and regulatory structure for nonbank fintech firms. We further remain optimistic that the OCC will continue to carefully consider this framework for bank charters and understand the impact that it will have on American consumers.
“As always, we stand ready to work with the OCC, Treasury Department, other regulators, and all stakeholders as our industry continues to provide safe, reliable, and convenient credit access for those who need it.”
