- Key insight: Sony's online bank now has conditional approval from U.S. regulators to build Connectia Trust as a national trust bank subsidiary and make its own stablecoins.
- Expert quote: "The charter will allow Sony to bring the entire stablecoin lifecycle in-house under a single federal regulator rather than relying on a third party's state trust charter and patchwork of state money transmitter licenses." — FS Vector's Evey Guo
- Forward look: The bank plans to launch the trust bank sometime next year and issue stablecoins in partnership with Bastion Platforms.
Sony Bank has received conditional approval to set up a trust bank in the United States for issuing dollar-backed stablecoins.
The bank, which is the online banking division of Sony Financial Group in Japan, announced on Tuesday that it is establishing Connectia Trust as a new U.S. national trust bank subsidiary. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency also published its conditional approval of Sony's national trust bank charter application.
"The establishment of this trust subsidiary is intended to contribute to the development of a medium‑to-long‑term business foundation for the Sony Financial Group's digital asset businesses," a statement from Sony Financial Group reads.
Sony Bank plans to open Connectia Trust in 2027, according to the
"Until all approvals and other authorizations, including the OCC's final approval, have been obtained, no business activities, including the issuance of stablecoins, will be conducted," the company said in a statement.
Sony Financial Group
Roman Goldstein, senior director at financial services advisory firm Klaros Group, told American Banker that Sony's charter will allow it to be the "issuer of record" for its stablecoin.
"Without its own charter, Sony issues under someone else's license and inherits their regulatory risk," he said. "With a national trust bank it has a direct relationship with the regulator that sets the terms of the stablecoin issuance, it controls the compliance program, it keeps the income on the reserves backing the stablecoin and it has a direct path to federal qualified issuer status under the GENIUS Act."
Sony Bank intends to use dollar-backed stablecoins to expand payment options within the Sony Group ecosystem for both internal operations and customer use. This includes Sony Group's treasury operations, cross-border payments and in-app digital currency payments for streaming and commerce in the entertainment sector (which includes products such as video games, anime, movies and music).
Issuing stablecoins is part of Sony Group's broader push to modernize digital payments across its global entertainment ecosystem. Back in 2013, Sony
As the issuer, according to FS Vector principal Evey Guo, Sony Bank would also be able to capture the full yield on the reserve assets backing the stablecoin instead of sharing that income with an intermediary partner.
Guo told American Banker that the national trust bank charter helps Sony "control their own destiny."
"The charter will allow Sony to bring the entire stablecoin lifecycle (e.g., issuance, custody, transfers, redemption) in house under a single federal regulator, rather than relying on a third party's state trust charter and patchwork of state money transmitter licenses," she said. "That eliminates operational frictions and gives Sony a direct supervisory relationship with the OCC, which should be a natural fit for a company that already operates a regulated bank in Japan."
More than 30% of Sony's global revenue comes from the United States, according to the company, which makes the U.S. market central to early adoption once Connectia formally launches.
"A dollar-backed stablecoin is what's needed to serve those customers and payment flows," Guo said.
