The Conference of State Bank Supervisors, which has taken the OCC to court over its plans to issue national fintech charters, was also critical of the CFPB task force’s report, albeit for different reasons.
In a statement to CQ Roll Call, CSBS President John W. Ryan said the report and its recommendations “fail to recognize the critical role that state regulators play in protecting consumers and facilitating safe innovation.” He said the suggestion of a federal fintech license under the guise of consumer protection is particularly troublesome, adding that a national license “would prioritize convenience for a few established players over consumer protection, innovation and a level playing field.”
An attorney who closely monitors regulators’ approach to fintechs, Norman H. Roos, said in an interview that the OCC “is the chartering authority at the national level. Why bring in another agency? It is counterintuitive.”
Roos, senior counsel at the Robinson and Cole law firm, questioned the need for a national fintech chartering authority at all. He said state regulators, working through the CSBS, have boosted state collaboration to smooth multistate fintech licensing efforts.
Jo Ann Barefoot, a former deputy comptroller of the currency who is now CEO of the policy group Alliance for Innovative Regulation, also praised state regulators’ strides to ease the burdens of state-by-state licensing. She said it remains an extremely time-consuming, onerous and expensive process “and definitely adds to the many barriers that confront promising fintechs.”
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