24th Jul 2026 12:22
(Alliance News) - Wise Group PLC shares fell on Friday after it said its application for a US national trust bank charter has been denied by the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
Shares in Wise were down 7.2% at 840.40 pence on Friday afternoon in London.
A national trust bank charter allows institutions to operate as fiduciaries and provide services like custodial, safekeeping and settlement.
The London-based money transfer services firm said its business and compliance maturity have "evolved significantly" since submitting the original application over a year ago.
"This includes changes we have made in response to OCC feedback throughout the application process, and the OCC's letter published today refers to these historical issues with our original application that we have been addressing," Wise noted.
The firm said it will submit a "viable" application to the OCC "in due course", which it said will reflect its "growing business and the changing regulatory landscape".
Wise noted that the rejection does not affect its normal operations under its existing money transmitter licenses.
Since the original application, the Federal Reserve proposed a change in the policy for payment system access.
"Our original application was conditioned on obtaining direct access to master accounts at the Federal Reserve. With the Federal Reserve generally pausing account access for an uninsured trust bank, the approach in our application became non-viable," Wise said.
Regulation for payments in the US have also changed, including the enactment of the Genius Act.
The Genius Act, or Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act, is the first law in the US to establish a regulatory framework for payment stablecoins.
Based on this, Wise said it plans to submit a new application under the Genius Act framework.
By Michael Hennessey, Alliance News reporter
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