In Brief: Second Internet-Only Bank Gets Charter

For the second time, the Comptroller of the Currency has granted a banking charter to an Internet-only bank.

The OCC said Thursday that it had granted a charter to NextBank N.A., a subsidiary of NextCard Inc., San Francisco, which markets a Visa credit card over the Internet.

NextCard sought the national bank charter to fund its credit card loans through certificates of deposit. Before receiving the charter, NextCard receivables were funded through a partnership with Heritage Bank of Commerce, San Jose, Calif.

Though NextBank will have no branches, its Community Reinvestment Act assessment area will include the San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose metropolitan region, the OCC said.

The first Internet-only national bank was CompuBank, a Houston institution chartered in 1997.

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