Upstart Holdings in Burlingame, Calif., has received conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to form Upstart Bank.
The charter would let Upstart reduce operational, regulatory, and financial complexity for itself and third-party capital partners. The fintech filed its application in March.
Conditional approval “is an important milestone … we will continue to work with the OCC, the FDIC, and the Federal Reserve on the remaining steps,” Paul Gu, Upstart’s co-founder and CEO, said in a press release. The proposed bank “will allow us to lower the cost of lending and bring our full product offering to all 50 states, advancing our mission to radically reduce the cost and complexity of credit for all Americans.”
Annie Delgado, Upstart’s chief risk officer and the proposed CEO of the bank, which is expected to be based in Delaware.
Applications to the FDIC for deposit insurance and to the Fed to become a bank holding company are pending.