Banking

The dominant story across multiple newsletters last week was Revolut's progress toward a US banking charter. Banking Dive Newsletter reported that Revolut nabbed a conditional OCC charter, a development also covered by Fintech Futures, which described Revolut winning conditional approval for a US bank charter. Payments Wrap Up, Connecting the Dots in FinTech, and Sifted Fintech Newsletter each covered the same milestone, framing it respectively as Revolut winning a conditional US banking license, clearing a major US banking hurdle, and clearing the first hurdle to a US banking licence.

Stablecoin activity involving major banks was another recurring theme. Payments Wrap Up covered Citi, Goldman Sachs, and other global banks teaming up on a stablecoin venture, while Banking Dive Newsletter reported that Wells, BofA, and Citi are backing an upcoming stablecoin. Payments Wrap Up also covered Shinhan and Visa teaming up to build South Korea's stablecoin infrastructure. Linas's Newsletter touched on stablecoins as well, noting that 21 banks built a stablecoin tied to $6T in deposits, alongside other items including Anthropic's Claude Commerce Agents and 𝕏 Money losing its 6% APY in New York.

American Banker Fintech covered a range of distinct banking stories, including Georgia investors evolving their plan for starting a new bank, a New Mexico bank poised for sale after its owner couldn't repay debts, a California bank selling low-yielding bonds, and US banks potentially needing to blacklist UAE branches of Banque Misr. It also reported that a Bank of America VP was the person killed in a NYC stabbing, and covered discussion of dystopian AI futures that bankers heard about at Jackson Hole. Separately, Banking Dive Newsletter covered TabaPay eyeing an OCC charter through a Denver bank deal, and Fintech Futures reported on Allica Bank applying for a Swedish banking licence as part of a European growth push.

Other newsletters addressed banking-adjacent technology and strategy topics without much elaboration. Fintech Wrap Up covered why AI won't replace banking software yet, per comments from Finastra's CEO Chris Walters, and also referenced reports on top banking trends for 2026, usage-based billing infrastructure, and the state of intelligent finance in the UK. Fintech Snark Tank covered 2027 strategic planning themes for banks and credit unions.