Wise’s application to create a US national trust bank has been rejected after federal regulators identified serious concerns involving anti-money-laundering controls, banking-law knowledge and the experience of its proposed leadership team. Existing Wise accounts, cards, balances and money transfers remain available in the United States.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal agency responsible for supervising national banks, dated its decision July 21, 2026. Wise announced the denial on July 24, sending its London-listed shares down as much as 11% during trading.
Latest update: As of July 27, Wise plans to submit a new application under a different regulatory framework. It has not disclosed when the application will be filed, who will lead the proposed institution or how long another review could take.
Why was Wise’s application rejected?
Wise filed its application in June 2025 to establish Wise National Trust in Austin, Texas. The OCC concluded that the proposal raised significant supervisory and compliance concerns and did not demonstrate that the institution could begin operating safely.
The regulator pointed to long-standing deficiencies in Wise US’s anti-money-laundering and counterterrorist-financing programme. It said the application did not show sufficient familiarity with the Bank Secrecy Act, federal banking regulations or the fiduciary obligations applying to national trust banks.
Concerns extended to the proposed board and management team. According to the OCC, Wise US had no previous fiduciary-business experience, while the proposed directors and executives lacked sufficient experience overseeing trust activities and financial-crime compliance.
The OCC said Wise would need to correct the existing deficiencies and develop a stronger company-wide compliance programme before a future proposal could be considered suitable. The findings appear in OCC Corporate Decision 1381.
What happened before the rejection?
The application was submitted less than a month before Wise US became subject to a multistate enforcement action in July 2025.
State regulators found weaknesses in the company’s Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering systems. These included delayed suspicious-activity reports and deficiencies involving risk assessments, transaction monitoring and independent testing.
Wise agreed to pay approximately $4.2 million and make compliance improvements. California imposed additional state-specific requirements through a separate order.
The OCC said the enforcement action did not automatically determine its decision. However, the findings contributed to concerns about whether Wise was prepared to meet the additional obligations placed on a federally chartered trust bank.
Was Wise trying to become a regular bank?
No. Wise applied for a national trust bank charter rather than a conventional retail-banking licence.
A trust bank generally focuses on custody, safeguarding assets, payment settlement and other fiduciary services. It does not usually operate like an ordinary bank that accepts federally insured deposits and provides mortgages or consumer loans.
The charter would have given Wise a federal institution through which it could expand payment and safeguarding services. Its original plan also depended on the proposed trust bank receiving a Federal Reserve master account, providing direct access to federal payment systems.
Other payment companies have pursued comparable charters, but approval is not guaranteed. The approval of Circle’s US national trust bank shows that the OCC evaluates each applicant’s business model, management, capital and compliance controls separately.
Are Wise customers or transfers affected?
No immediate customer action is required. Wise said the OCC decision does not affect its normal operations in the United States or other countries.
Customers can continue sending and receiving money, holding supported currencies, using Wise cards and accessing business services. The company has not directed customers to withdraw funds, close accounts or cancel pending transfers.
Wise continues operating through money-transmitter licences covering 48 states and four US territories. It holds more than 80 regulatory licences worldwide.
The proposed trust bank never opened, accepted customer funds or provided services. Its denial therefore does not represent the closure of an operating Wise bank.
How has Wise responded?
Wise said the OCC’s letter concerns historical issues in an application prepared more than a year earlier. The company maintains that its business and compliance programme have developed since then.
Following the 2025 consent order, Wise said it increased US compliance staffing, strengthened investigation and reporting procedures, and improved the reliability of customer information used to detect suspicious activity.
The OCC nevertheless made clear that any replacement application must demonstrate that the deficiencies have been corrected. Wise’s statement that improvements have been made does not amount to regulatory approval of those changes.
Why did Wise’s original plan become unworkable?
Wise said its first proposal relied on receiving direct access to a Federal Reserve master account. In May 2026, the Federal Reserve proposed a policy change that generally paused master-account access for uninsured trust banks.
That development meant the proposed Wise National Trust could no longer operate through the structure described in its original application.
The US payments landscape also changed following the GENIUS Act, which established a federal framework for payment stablecoins. Wise now intends to structure its next trust bank application around that framework and the interaction between conventional payment networks and regulated digital assets.
Wise has not said that it plans to issue its own stablecoin. Its announcement referred more broadly to connecting payment systems, digital assets, treasury operations and risk controls.
What happens next?
The OCC’s denial does not prevent Wise from applying again. A new filing would begin a separate review and would need to address every reason given for rejecting the first proposal.
Wise may need to demonstrate stronger financial-crime controls, more experienced leadership, a workable payment-access plan and sufficient understanding of federal fiduciary requirements. The OCC generally aims to decide complete charter applications within 120 days, although complicated cases can take longer.
No replacement application or approval had been announced as of July 27. Any claim that Wise has already secured a US banking charter would therefore be incorrect.
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Why the decision matters for Wise
The denial delays Wise’s effort to gain more direct access to the American financial system. It also increases scrutiny of the company’s compliance record as the United States remains an important expansion market.
Competition is intensifying as other financial-technology companies pursue banking licences and closer access to payment infrastructure. Revolut is making another attempt to secure an American banking licence, while its growing international profile is reflected in Deutsche Bank and Revolut’s move into the same Canary Wharf headquarters.
Wise moved its primary stock-market listing to Nasdaq in May 2026 while retaining a secondary listing in London. In its 2026 financial year, the company served 18.9 million active personal and business customers and processed $243.5 billion in cross-border payments.
Net revenue increased 19% to $2.5 billion, although net income declined to $498.7 million from $550.3 million a year earlier. The immediate issue is not Wise’s ability to continue processing transfers, but whether its revised governance and compliance arrangements can meet the OCC’s standards in a future application.
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