Episode summary
Trump's Family Joins the Sprint to Get a National Bank Charter | Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Businessweek Daily
· · 11 min · Hosts: Carol Massar, Tim Stenovec · Guests: Paige Smith
Summary
Donald Trump’s family is moving toward a national bank charter through World Liberty Financial, the entity tied to its stablecoin USD1. Paige Smith says the group has won conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to pursue a trust charter, and that the broader regulatory environment under the Trump administration has made bank formation far easier than it has been in years.
Smith argues the key appeal of becoming a bank is not just cheaper funding, but legitimacy. For a smaller digital-asset or fintech firm, a charter can serve as an official stamp of approval from the U.S. financial system, while also helping the firm keep and deploy the assets backing its stablecoin. She says the White House denied any conflict of interest, even as the approval process raised obvious appearance concerns because the agency leaders were appointed by President Trump.
The segment also frames this as part of a wider wave: the OCC approved 22 bank charters in the first 19 months of Trump’s second term, more than the previous five years combined. Smith says the influx of fintech and crypto-linked applicants is an open experiment, and that regulators will be watching closely to see which firms can operate safely inside the traditional banking system.
Key takeaways
- Paige Smith says World Liberty Financial has conditional approval for a trust charter, making it the Trump family’s path toward a bank.
- Smith says a bank charter gives fintech and crypto firms legitimacy, not just cheaper funding.
- The OCC approved 22 bank charters in the first 19 months of Trump’s second term, more than the previous five years combined, Smith reports.
- Smith says this is the first known case of a sitting president’s children starting a bank while regulators appointed by that president review the application.
- Smith says regulators will be watching whether these newer entrants can stay within the rules of the traditional banking system.
Notable quotes
“It's now easier than at any time in almost 20 years to get a national bank charter thanks to the Trump administration's deregulation push”
“they want to um grow the reach of the stable coin and um build out the business”
“this is the first time that something like this has occurred”
“The first n in the first 19 months of the president's second term, the OC approved 22 bank charters”
How the episode opens
Bloomberg Audio Studios podcasts, radio news.
You're listening to Bloomberg Business Week with Carol Masser and Tim Stenc on Bloomberg Radio. Well, President Trump's family is on the verge of having its very own bank. The president's relatives and their business associates have won preliminary approval to start one, riding a wave that doesn't come around often.
It's now easier than at any time in almost 20 years to get a national bank charter thanks to the Trump administration's deregulation push. I'm reading right from one of the most read stories on the Bloomberg terminal. It is today's big take.
Paige Smith is Bloomberg News finance reporter. She's part of the team behind the story. She joins us here in the Bloomberg Interactive Brokers studio.
The process for getting a national bank charter. Before we get into what the president's family is doing and what World Liberty Financial is doing, which you detail in the piece, just talk to us about how that how that happens and how it traditionally works.
Certainly. So, first of all, I think it's important to note that there are a number of different bank charters that anyone or any entity can pursue at any given time. The uh president's family is pursuing a trust charter and has received conditional approval from one financial regulator to do that. Um that regulator is the office of the controller of the currency. Um
The OC — The OC as we know it. Um run by Jonathan Gould who is actually a Trump appointee himself. Um so there are a lot of different charters that anyone can pursue. Um take New Bank for example, a really well-known fintech in that's Brazil based. Um they've received approval to be a national bank. So it's slightly different um and maybe a little bit more vanilla or bread and butter than uh a trust bank for example.
From the episode’s captions: roughly the first two minutes, lightly cleaned. Keep watching on YouTube →
Topics
- national bank charter
- banking deregulation
- fintech
- stablecoin
- digital assets
Companies and tickers mentioned
- World Liberty Financial
Watch the episode
Summary, takeaways and quote selection by Octagon. Quotes are short excerpts; the full conversation is in the episode.
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