Wise plans new application for national trust bank charter under GENIUS Act

Wise Group plans to submit a new application for a US national trust bank charter under the GENIUS Act framework after the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied its original bid.

London listed shares in the payments company fell as much as 11% following the announcement on Friday. Wise said the decision does not affect its existing operations in the US or other markets.

Wise submitted its application in June 2025 to establish Wise National Trust as a nondepository national trust bank. The proposed entity was intended to provide payment processing and fiduciary services while allowing Wise to seek direct access to Federal Reserve payment systems.

The OCC cited supervisory and compliance concerns connected to the original application, including deficiencies in Wise’s anti money laundering and counterterrorism financing controls. The regulator also referenced a July 2025 multistate consent order issued one month after Wise filed its application.

Wise said it has since strengthened its US compliance program, improved its investigation and reporting processes, enhanced the customer data it collects and increased compliance staffing.

The company also said its original proposal became unviable following changes to Federal Reserve policy. Wise had conditioned the application on obtaining direct access to a Federal Reserve master account, but the central bank proposed generally pausing payment system access for uninsured trust banks in May 2026.

Wise now plans to structure a new charter application around the GENIUS Act, which established a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins when it became law on July 18, 2025. The legislation was enacted one month after Wise submitted its original application, rather than before the filing.

The company said stablecoins are becoming increasingly visible alongside traditional payment rails and that its infrastructure could support interoperability between the two systems. Wise did not announce plans to issue its own stablecoin.

Wise served 18.9 million active customers and processed $243.5 billion in cross border volume during fiscal 2026. The company generated $2.5 billion in net revenue during the period.

Wise currently operates through money transmitter licenses covering 48 US states and four territories. Those operations will continue while the company prepares a revised application for the OCC.