US OCC sends Wise stock crashing with banking charter denial

Wise (NASDAQ: WSE) has lost its bid for a US national trust bank charter, and in less than 24 hours, its shares have dropped by 11%. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rejected the payments firm’s application over anti-money-laundering deficiencies on Thursday, July 23. 

Wise has been making moves to expand its footprint in the US, and the bank charter would have been a major step forward in achieving its goal. The fintech, which is headquartered in London, made its debut on Nasdaq in May, relocating its primary listing to New York.

How often does the OCC reject national trust bank charter applications?

The OCC does not usually give outright denials. Reports liken Wise’s case to that of UK digital bank Monzo, which withdrew its own application after the regulator signaled that it was not going to get the approval. 

The only difference between both firms is that Wise chose not to withdraw, and the OCC’s decision came as a formal rejection.

Wise filed for the national trust charter over a year ago, and it says that the reasons that the OCC gave for the denial in its letter point back to problems that were tied to that original filing without considerations for where they stand today as a business.

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