Wise Corporation (NASDAQ: WSE) lost its bid for the U.S. National Trust Bank charter, and in less than 24 hours, its shares fell 11%. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) denied the payments company’s application due to anti-money laundering deficiencies on Thursday, July 23.
Wise has taken steps to expand its presence in the United States, and a bank charter would have been a major step forward in achieving its goal. The fintech company, headquartered in London, made its debut on the Nasdaq in May, moving its primary listing to New York.
How often does the OCC deny National Trust Bank charter applications?
The OCC does not typically offer outright denials. Reports likened Wise’s case to that of British digital bank Monzo, which withdrew its own application after the regulator indicated it would not receive approval.
The only difference between the two companies is that Wise chose not to withdraw, and… The OCC’s decision amounted to a formal denial.
Wise applied for a national trust charter more than a year ago, and says the reasons the OCC gave for the denial in its letter point to issues that were associated with that original application without considerations for where it stands today as a business.
Google financials The stock was trading at about 844 pence on the London Stock Exchange on Friday morning, down from the previous close of 905 pence. And on the Nasdaq stock exchange Pre-market data It shows that it is currently down 6.51%, trading at $12.08.
What did the OCC actually do wrong with Wise?
The regulator’s concern was compliance. Wise faced a multi-state general consent order as of July 2025, reached with several US states due to weaknesses in the company’s anti-money laundering software.
These failures included a slowdown in filing suspicious activity reports, which are alerts banks must send when they detect the movement of potential criminal funds.
Citing the Financial Times, the regulator found that the UK fintech had “no historical experience in credit activities” and that its proposed management failed to demonstrate sufficient relevant experience.
Wise says it has since overhauled its controls. “In response to the consent order, we have strengthened our domestic program in the United States, strengthened our investigative and reporting processes, improved the integrity of the data we collect from our customers, and increased resources for our domestic compliance program,” the company said in a statement.
Wise added that it is working with the UK Financial Conduct Authority and the National Bank of Belgium on these controls.
Why Wise says the old plan no longer works
Wise built its original app around having a master account at the Federal Reserve, the direct line to the US payment system. The Fed proposed changing that access policy in May 2026, and also temporarily halted account access for uninsured trust banks, which Wise now calls an “unviable” basis for his first application.
So the company plans to reintroduce the new US law, this time under the GENIUS Act, which gives stablecoins a clearer foundation alongside traditional payment paths. Wise says its infrastructure is positioned to connect those systems as digital assets become more popular.
The company also stated that this setback changes nothing for customers now, as it continues to operate under money transfer licenses across 48 US states and four territories, part of more than 80 licenses around the world.
In fiscal 2026, Wise served about 19 million customers and moved more than $240 billion cross-border, according to its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. About 15% of its revenue comes from the United States, versus nearly $500 million in profits on $2.5 billion in revenue for the year ending in March.
Contrasting with the cryptocurrency charter wave
The OCC has spent the last year waving cryptocurrency companies through the same door that Wise just walked in and out of. In December 2025, the same regulator with conditions Approved national trust charters For digital assets Ripple, BitGo, Paxos, Circle and Fidelity, in May 2026, this He scanned Nomura’s digital laserIt is the first of its kind for a subsidiary of a Japanese bank.
At least 15 digital asset companies have applied for OCC charters since the beginning of 2025.
Wise’s denial shows that the agency is still willing to say no when it questions an applicant’s compliance record, even as it opens the federal banking system to new entrants. Rival Revolut filed a new application for a US charter this year after abandoning a previous attempt, so Wise won’t be the only European fintech to test the regulator’s stance.
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