On Friday, the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) filed a lawsuit against the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over its approval of national trust charters for novel cryptocurrency companies, arguing that the regulator “far exceeded its limited statutory authority to charter trust banks that perform certain fiduciary duties.”
“The OCC’s decision to allow companies to obtain national trust bank charters to conduct substantial non-fiduciary activities exceeds the authority Congress granted the agency,” said ICBA President and CEO Rebeca Romero Rainey. “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.”
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks to have the OCC’s March 2 final rule declared unlawful and set aside. It also seeks to prevent the OCC from using the rule to approve additional charters going forward.
