ILCs

Brex currently relies on bank partners to offer credit cards and cash management accounts to small and midsize businesses. It is looking to charter its own FDIC-insured institution to be a direct provider.

The Detroit automaker says it will stick to car loans and steer clear of mortgage lending if regulators approve its application to establish an industrial bank.

The agency's principals are scheduled to meet Dec. 15 to vote on a new definition for brokered deposits and on regulatory standards for industrial bank parents.

The automaker is reportedly planning to apply for a bank charter so it could collect deposits and grow its own auto-finance business. That could create more competition for Ally, which was spun off from GM in 2006 but remains a key lending partner.

The success of some fintechs in getting bank charters this year only underscores how onerous the process remains for many others. That’s unlikely to change unless policymakers reconsider what it means to be a bank.

The e-commerce leader’s return to the drawing board alleviates immediate concerns about its banking plans. But the company intends to reapply, and it will be harder for the industry to persuade policymakers to block industrial loan companies more broadly.

The Japanese conglomerate first applied for deposit insurance in July 2019 and again in May 2020.

Jelena McWilliams's term as FDIC chair expires in 2023, and she cannot be removed by an incoming president. But if Joe Biden prevails, he may ask her to stay — and if she does, governing a Democratic-majority board would be a very different proposition.

For too long, nonbanks have been allowed to form industrial loan companies to operate as banks without Fed oversight. This regulatory pass should not be given during a crisis.

Two trade organizations and a consumer group urged lawmakers to establish a three-year moratorium to block the charter bids of companies that they said were attempting to skirt regulatory requirements.