In the latest example of a high-cost nonbank consumer lender agreeing to buy a bank, Opportunity Financial has reached a deal to acquire the $1 billion-asset parent company of BNC National Bank.
Chicago-based OppFi announced the $130 million cash-and-stock deal on Wednesday. It said it expects the transaction, which needs regulatory approval from the Federal Reserve, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.
"We are excited to get to work with BNC's team to maximize the strengths of our businesses and continue to find ways to better serve customers who have been traditionally underserved by banks," Todd Schwartz, OppFi's CEO, said in a statement.
OppFi specializes in making relatively small loans to cash-strapped Americans at high annual percentage rates. A nine-month, $2,000 loan serviced by OppFi in California, for example, would incur an annual interest rate of 160%, according to the company's
Buying BNC would give OppFi a national bank charter, making it subject to regulation by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, rather than by a patchwork of state regulators — an advantage that Schwartz alluded to in his statement.
"The transformative combination of OppFi's digital-first platform and BNC's national bank charter unlocks significant opportunities for growth and product diversification," Schwartz said. "Combining our operations under unified regulatory supervision by the OCC and Federal Reserve simplifies and strengthens our compliance and risk management."
The deal appears to follow the template established recently by another nonbank lender. Enova International, which like OppFi is a high-cost consumer lender that's based in Chicago, announced in December that it had reached a deal to
"A national bank doesn't have a limitation in terms of its interest rate. So we could fight back against state-chartered banks, but there's no limitation on national banks," Nadine Chabrier, senior policy counsel at the Center for Responsible Lending,
OppFi said Wednesday that the boards of both companies have unanimously approved its purchase of BNC. Assuming the merger is completed, Schwartz will lead the successor company as CEO, while BNCCORP chairman Michael Vekich will serve on the board of directors of OppFi's new banking subsidiary, OppFi Bank.
"This is an exciting opportunity to align our community-focused banking tradition with OppFi's world-class digital innovation," Vekich said in a statement. "This is a significant moment in our proud history."
