Fintech Firms Seek Greater Control of U.S. Banking Infrastructure

Control of banking infrastructure is becoming a strategic question for large fintech firms. Revolut is pursuing a U.S. national bank charter, Chime has agreed to buy a bank it already works with, and Checkout.com has secured a specialised charter for merchant acquiring. Each move could give the company more say over the systems behind its products, along with more responsibility for operating them.

Revolut’s charter comes with conditions

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved Revolut’s application for a U.S. national bank charter. The decision clears a significant hurdle, but it doesn’t authorize an immediate launch. Revolut still has regulatory steps to complete, including separate supervisory sign-offs for retail foreign-exchange trading, FX forward contracts, merchant acquiring and correspondent banking for foreign banks.

Those activities sit close to the core of Revolut’s business. The remaining reviews will therefore address not only its path to becoming a bank, but also how it plans to run key foreign-exchange and payments services in the United States.

For years, many fintechs have built products and customer relationships on top of banks’ licensed infrastructure. That arrangement helped companies move quickly, while leaving the regulated banking functions with a partner. The trade-off was dependence on systems and decisions outside the fintech’s control. Revolut’s application reflects a broader effort to reconsider that balance.

Chime is pursuing ownership

Chime has chosen a different route: it agreed to acquire Stride Bank, one of its current banking partners. The transaction still requires regulatory approval. If completed, it would give Chime greater control over the infrastructure supporting its business.

That control may matter more as a fintech grows. A closer connection to its banking operations can affect how the company develops products, manages its services and captures the economics of its business. But ownership also shifts more of the burden onto the company.

Capital, governance, compliance, risk management, consumer protection and operational resilience all demand greater attention as a fintech takes on more direct banking responsibilities. Functions once handled by a partner become harder to leave outside the company.

Checkout.com targets payments infrastructure

Checkout.com is expanding its U.S. presence through a more specialised approach. The payments company received approval for a Georgia banking charter that will let it operate as a merchant acquirer in the United States. It isn’t pursuing the same kind of consumer banking role as Revolut; its charter is tied to the payments business.

The three strategies point in a similar direction: Revolut is seeking a national charter, Chime is looking to acquire an existing bank, and Checkout.com is pursuing a specialised payments charter. For each, greater control over regulated infrastructure may support the next stage of its business, while bringing new operational obligations.

Scale changes the fintech equation

Fintech’s early proposition often centred on improving the customer interface. A later wave built new services on top of existing banking systems. Now, some of the largest companies are looking more closely at those systems themselves.

As customer numbers, product ranges and transaction volumes grow, reliance on a third-party bank can become a constraint. Bringing more infrastructure in-house can offer greater control, but it also means taking on more of the complexity that fintechs once left to banking partners.

That tension is the defining feature of this shift. Fintechs set out to make financial services easier to use; at scale, some are finding that controlling the customer experience may require a deeper role in the banking operations behind it.

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