Wise expected to resubmit US charter application under GENIUS

The OCC denied the UK company’s application this week citing AML/CFT risks, despite approving similar charters for digital asset companies in the last year.

Payments company Wise is expected to change its strategy for applying for a charter license with the US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to one “under a GENIUS Act framework,” the legislation to regulate stablecoins in the country.

According to a Friday research note by investment banking group William Blair, Wise will likely not shift its position on payment stablecoins with the new OCC application, despite being denied a charter to establish a national trust bank on Tuesday. The OCC said in its rejection that the company could not show it had an effective Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) compliance program and had “other illicit finance activity risks.”

“Wise is focused on lowering the cost of cross-border transactions, agnostic of the rail,” said William Blair on the move to apply under GENIUS.

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