Wise shares retreated after the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied its bid for a national trust bank charter, a setback to its American growth ambitions.
Wise Group suffered a blow to its share price on Friday after the company disclosed on Thursday that the OCC had rejected its application to charter a US national trust bank, undercutting a strategy central to its push into the world’s biggest payments market just weeks after its Nasdaq listing.
Shares were trading at 849p on Friday morning, down 6.2% on the day, having fallen as low as 806.2p intraday from Thursday’s close of 905.4p. That leaves the stock well below its 52-week high of 1,164p, struck in September 2025, though still above its 52-week low of 754p, hit in June.
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What happened
The OCC denied Wise’s application for a national trust bank charter, first submitted more than a year ago, citing anti-money laundering and countering-terrorist-financing compliance deficiencies, according to the Financial Times. The regulator also flagged concerns that Wise had not demonstrated sufficient understanding of banking duties or fiduciary experience within its proposed management team.
Wise said the decision does not affect its existing US operations, which continue under money transmitter licences covering 48 states and four territories, part of more than 80 licences it holds globally. The company said it has since strengthened its US compliance programme, improved customer data and investigation processes, and increased resources dedicated to preventing financial crime. It plans to submit a fresh trust bank application under the framework created by the GENIUS Act, the US law governing dollar-backed stablecoins.
Wise applied last June to charter Wise National Trust, a non-depository bank based in Austin, Texas, seeking a master account at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas that would let it clear and settle dollar payments directly with the Fed rather than through partner banks, covering close to half of its global cross-border volume. Wise said this original approach became unworkable after the Federal Reserve paused direct payment-system access for uninsured trust banks. The setback follows Wise’s move of its primary listing from London to Nasdaq on 11 May, a shift its board framed around the US being “the biggest market opportunity” for its products.
Wise said in a statement: “We have invested significantly in enhancing our processes and controls globally and in the U.S. since the original application for the trust charter was prepared, including those to prevent financial crime alongside other forms of risk.” Analysts have generally been supportive of Wise’s broader strategy. Rival fintech Revolut has also resubmitted a US banking licence application after abandoning an earlier attempt, according to City AM, underscoring how contested the American market has become.
Wise now faces a second attempt at securing federal banking status in its largest strategic market, with the timing and terms of its GENIUS Act filing still to be set. Until a new charter is approved, Wise remains dependent on partner banks to move US dollars, the currency underpinning roughly half its cross-border business, keeping a key plank of its American expansion on hold.