The following is a summary of Fintech specific related topics, for the Blockchain Week in Review, please visit our sister blog post at the Virtual Currency Report.

Varo Bank Receives Preliminary Approval for a National Bank Charter

On September 4, the organizers of the fintech start up Varo Bank, N.A. announced that they have been granted preliminary approval by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”) for their application to form a de novo national bank. The charter will allow Varo to expand its financial products across the United States, largely preempting state financial regulatory licensing processes for certain money transmission activities. The OCC announced earlier this month that it would begin accepting national bank charter applications from fintech companies. Accordingly, Varo is the first fintech to receive preliminary approval under the new application process. For more information about the OCC national bank charter application process for fintech companies please see our regulatory update here.

Please click here for the press release.

The above is a summary of one of the significant legal and regulatory actions that occurred over the past week. This alert is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all such developments, but rather a selection of publicly-reported news that may be of particular interest.  These are the Fintech updates that ties to the post Blockchain in Review – Week of September 3 – September 7, 2018 from our sister blog, VirtualCurrencyReport.