In a first-of-its-kind decision, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted “conditional approval” for a national bank charter to Erebor Bank, a de novo bank. Erebor Bank plans to offer a combination of private banking, fintech infrastructure and digital asset services. According to its application, the bank will serve select high and ultra-high net worth individuals and will obtain deposit insurance from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
“Erebor is the first de novo bank to receive a preliminary conditional approval since I arrived at the OCC. I am committed to a dynamic and diverse federal banking system, and our decision today is a first but important step in living up to that commitment,” said Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould in a prepared statement.
Under this conditional approval, the OCC also determined that a national bank may hold non-asset-backed virtual currencies on its balance sheet to pay transaction fees. Specifically, the OCC concluded that holding such assets is “convenient or useful” to a bank’s digital asset custody services and is therefore permissible under 12 USC 23 as incidental to the business of banking.
