SOUTH BRONX / SDNY, July 13 – In the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, and with a fintech and crypto-currency proponent installed as Acting Comptroller, SoFi and its controller SoftBank are seeking to get a U.S. bank charter. The WSJ and others have reported the bid, but it is not yet on the OCC's website (which often lags behind such that public comment periods end before notice is given).
Meanwhile Inner City Press' requests under the Freedom of Information Act into Acting Comproller Brian P. Brooks' conflicts of interest in the fintech and crypto-currency world have yet to be answers.
And so on July 13 Fair Finance Watch filed with the OCC, including this: "July 13, 2020
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency DC Comptroller Brooks and Mr. Lybarger, Deputy Comptroller for Licensing & Northeastern District Office
Re: Timely First Comment on SoFi's reported application to the OCC to get into banking
Office of the Comptroller of the Currency DC Comptroller Brooks and Mr. Lybarger, Deputy Comptroller for Licensing & Northeastern District Office
Re: Timely First Comment on SoFi's reported application to the OCC to get into banking
Dear Mr. Lybarger, Ms. Cummings and others in the OCC: This is a timely first comment opposing and requesting an extension of the required OCC's public comment period on reported proposal by SoFi to get a national bank charter.
This is a major proposal, by a fintech in which SoftBank has a large stake. Yet, it is not yet on the OCC's website, where as of July 13 the most recent Weekly Bulletin cuts on on July 4. The only charter application listed as open for comment is Monzo Bank; the New Bank application link does not work. So, any comment period will have be be extended. This is a request for the complete application, all portions that the OCC after review does not find withholdable under FOIA.
Inner City Press / Fair Finance Watch opposed SoFi's previous, suspended attempt to get into banking. Since then the questions have only grown.
For now, we note that Inner City Press asked the OCC's FOIA unit for a copy of Comptroller Brooks' conflict of interest list with fintechs but has yet to receive it. Pending receipt, we ask that Acting Comptroller Brooks be recused from this application and that you confirm this in writing.
As to SoftBank, the dispute regarding another of its holdings, WeWork, portends the type of problems that regulators like the OCC are directed to keep out of, not invite into, the banking system.
For the above reasons, including the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns and restrictions, the comment period should not yet start or should extended, until in person public hearings can be held, and Comptroller Brooks' should be recused pending/and his conflict of interest list should be released." Watch this site.
