Key facts
- Community banks are suing the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency over crypto firm charters.
- The Independent Community Bankers of America filed the suit, arguing the OCC exceeded its regulatory authority.
- The group claims granting charters to crypto firms provides legitimacy without sufficient safeguards.
- The lawsuit seeks to revoke a recent rule and guidance that facilitate crypto firms applying for national trust bank charters.
A community banks group has filed a lawsuit against a US bank regulator, claiming its decision to grant limited national trust bank charters to cryptocurrency companies exceeds the authority Congress granted the agency. The Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed the suit Friday in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
The group contends that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted cryptocurrency firms the credibility of a US bank charter without sufficient safeguards or compliance with normal bank requirements. ICBA president and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey stated that Congress did not create the national trust charter as a side door into the banking system for crypto firms seeking the credibility of a federal bank charter without the Community Reinvestment Act obligations, consolidated supervision, capital and liquidity standards, and FDIC insurance that apply to insured depository institutions.