Wise Group had its application for a U.S. bank charter rejected.

Wise Group shares fell as much as 11% on Friday as the U.K.-headquartered, U.S.-listed fintech had its application for a national bank charter denied.

Outright rejections are rare, though in 2021 another U.K. digital bank, Monzo, withdrew an application after the regulator said approval was unlikely.

Wise (UK:WISE) $(WSE)$ said the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency denied its application, citing a consent order the company reached in July 2025 with multiple states over deficiencies in its anti money laundering program, including being slow to file suspicious activity reports.

Wise said it has improved its procedures, not just in the U.S., but also in the U.K. and Belgium.

"In response to the Consent Order, we have strengthened our local U.S. program, enhanced our investigation and reporting processes, improved the integrity of the data we collect from our customers and increased resourcing for our local compliance program," said Wise.

Wise isn't giving up. It's planning to submit a new application for a national bank trust charter, this time under the Genius Act that makes stablecoins more visible alongside existing payment rails. Wise said the rejected application was based on the premise that the Federal Reserve would grant it a master account for payment system access, an approach it now says is "non-viable."

Wise, in the March-ending fiscal year, earned nearly $500 million on $2.5 billion in revenue, with about 15% of the revenue coming from the U.S.

-Steve Goldstein

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July 24, 2026 04:06 ET (08:06 GMT)

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