The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency rejected Wise’s application, citing AML deficiencies. Shares fell 9% to 822.60p (GBP) on Friday morning
Wise shares fell 9.15% to 822.60p in London on Friday after the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) denied the payments group’s application for a national trust bank charter, citing anti-money laundering failures at its US subsidiary.
The stock had dropped more than 10% at the open.
The charter would have let Wise settle dollar payments directly with the Federal Reserve and operate under a single federal regulator, rather than the money transmitter licences it holds across 48 states and four territories.
Wise filed the application in June 2025 and said on Friday it will submit a new one.
OCC cites AML failures
The OCC said in a letter dated 21 July that the application raised “significant supervisory and compliance concerns,” and that Wise’s proposed management and board had shown a persistent inability to manage money laundering and terrorist financing risk.
The regulator also faulted the company for failing to demonstrate an understanding of traditional banking duties and for a lack of fiduciary experience on the proposed management team, according to the Financial Times.
Wise said the letter cites a multi-state consent order published in July 2025, a month after it was filed. Money transmission regulators in California, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New York and Texas fined Wise US $4.2m on 9 July 2025 for Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering violations, following an examination covering July 2022 to September 2023.
Brussels prosecutors are separately investigating Wise Europe over suspected money laundering across more than €500m of transactions, which the company disclosed on 1 June 2026 and on which it said no findings have been shared with it.
Wise said its compliance maturity has “evolved significantly” since the application was prepared, having strengthened its US programme, improved the integrity of customer data and increased compliance resourcing in response to the consent order.
Wise conditioned the application on obtaining a Federal Reserve master account. The Fed proposed changes to its payment system access policy in May 2026 and paused account access for uninsured trust banks, which Wise said left the application unworkable as filed.
Wise will refile under the GENIUS Act, which created a federal charter for non-banks issuing dollar-backed stablecoins. The denial does not affect its US operations, the company said, which continue under its existing state licences and a portfolio of more than 80 licences globally.
Denial follows a year of approvals
The rejection is the first high-profile denial of a fintech charter under the Trump administration, and follows a year in which the OCC received 14 applications for limited-purpose national trust charters, almost as many as in the preceding four years combined, and approved five banking licences in December including entities owned by Circle and Ripple, according to Freshfields data cited by the Financial Times.
Revolut applied for a full national bank charter with the OCC and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation on 5 March 2026, which unlike a trust charter would permit insured deposits and lending.
Wise moved its primary listing to Nasdaq on 11 May 2026 while keeping a secondary London listing, having described the US as its biggest market opportunity. It processed more than $240bn USD in cross-border transactions in the year to 31 March 2026, up 31%, serving around 19 million customers.
