The New York Department of Financial Supervision (DFS) has filed a complaint in a New York federal district court to stop the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) from implementing its proposal to issue special purpose national bank (SPNB) charters to fintech companies.  The lawsuit follows the filing of a similar action earlier this month by the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS) in D.C. federal district court.

Like the CSBS lawsuit, the DFS lawsuit challenges the OCC’s proposal on the grounds that:

• The National Bank Act (NBA) does not allow the OCC to charter non-depository financial services
• The OCC’s decision to issue SPNB charters to fintech companies, by enabling non-depository charter holders to disregard state law, violates the Tenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution under which states retain the powers not delegated to the federal government, including the police power to regulate financial services and products delivered within a state

In defending its authority to charter SPNBs that do not take FDIC-insured deposits, the OCC has relied on 12 C.F.R. Section 5.20(e)(1) which allows the OCC to charter a bank that performs a single core banking function—receiving deposits, paying checks, or lending money.  Similar to the CSBS lawsuit, the relief sought by the DFS lawsuit includes a declaration that the OCC lacks authority under the NBA to issue SPNB charters to fintech companies that do not take deposits, a declaration that 12 C.F.R. Section 5.20(e)(1) is null and void because it exceeds the OCC’s authority under the NBA, and an injunction prohibiting the OCC from issuing SPNB charters as proposed.

We have commented that because the OCC has not yet finalized the licensing process for fintech companies seeking an SPNB charter, the CSBS is likely to face a motion to dismiss on grounds that include a lack of ripeness and/or no case or controversy.  The DFS is likely to also face a motion to dismiss on similar grounds.  Perhaps anticipating an argument that it lacks standing to bring the lawsuit because it cannot show actual harm, DFS alleges not only that the OCC proposal would undermine its ability to protect New York consumers but also that the OCC’s actions will “injure DFS in a directly quantifiable way.”  DFS alleges that because its operating expenses are funded by assessments levied on New York-licensed financial institutions, every company that receives an SPNB charter “in place of a New York license to operate in this state deprives DFS of crucial resources that are necessary to fund the agency’s regulatory function.”

This allegation does not seem sufficient to overcome the lack of ripeness and/or no case or controversy problem that the DFS lawsuit presents.  Indeed, the DFS filed its lawsuit after the architect of the SPNB charter proposal, former Comptroller of the Currency Thomas Curry, was replaced by Acting Comptroller Keith Noreika.  Mr. Noreika has not yet taken any public position with respect to the SPNB charter.  It will not be until the next Comptroller of the Currency is nominated by President Trump, confirmed by the Senate, and takes a position on the SPNB charter that we will be able to realistically assess whether the OCC will continue to pursue the SNPB charter proposal, let alone finalize it.