Foreign Banks Set Sights on U.S. Expansion

America has long been known as the land of opportunity, and some foreign banks and fintechs are betting that’s still true.

Over the years, a number of international banks have tried to succeed in the United States, with mixed results. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA), Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), HSBC Holdings and BNP Paribas are some of the international institutions that have made a go of it in the U.S., only to eventually retreat, at least in terms of retail banking.

There is now a new wave of foreign entities looking to make it big in the states. But these companies tend to be fintechs and neobanks with a digital-first approach. They include OakNorth Bank, a British bank that provides business loans and personal savings accounts; Revolut Group Holdings, a London-based fintech that offers consumer and commercial products; and Nubank, a Brazilian fintech with more than 130 million customers in Latin America.

They are hoping that their digital-native approach will help them succeed where their more traditional counterparts failed.

“They have a different DNA than what we saw from the previous entrants,” says Andy Kampf, who leads the U.S. market entry practice for foreign fintechs for Klaros Group. “I think a lot of that is tech forward. I think that comes from the digital-native approach and preferences their customers have in countries where branch banking and ATMs might not be as much of a customer need. They really stick to customer-friendly digital interfaces, and the bank is built around that.”

The U.S. already has a crowded financial services market, with around 4,300 banks at the end of 2025, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. That’s in addition to about the same number of credit unions and numerous other U.S.-based fintechs, neobanks and nonbank lenders.

But the U.S. also offers significant opportunities in terms of reach and diversity. For instance, the population is around 342 million, compared with just 69 million in the United Kingdom, OakNorth and Revolut’s home market. The U.S. stretches about 3.8 million square miles, while the U.K. is under 100,000 square miles. And finally, the U.S. generally ranks among the top countries in the world in terms of disposable household income. “The market is huge and massive,” says Ben Barbanel, chief lending officer for OakNorth.

These new players are likely making these moves now for a few reasons. For one, younger customers are looking for a more digital-first approach that traditional banks don’t necessarily provide, says Brett Mastalli, who leads the banking practice at the consulting firm West Monroe. That could make a nimble fintech that can get new products and digital features to market quickly attractive. “If you are looking at this, now is the time to strike,” he adds.

The regulatory environment is also viewed as more favorable in approving acquisitions and applications for various banking charters. As a result, fintechs and foreign banks are considering a range of different charter options, including applying for national bank charters, broker-dealer licenses or even national trust charters, says Max Bonici, a partner at Davis Wright Tremaine.

“For foreign institutions, it’s like coming to the New World again,” says Stephen Gannon, a partner at the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine. “They are exploring all of the possibilities.”

Earlier this month, Revolut applied for a national U.S. bank charter, noting in a press release that this move would grant it direct access to the payment rails, deposit insurance and a chance to operate in every state under federal regulatory oversight. Revolut declined to comment for this story.

“Revolut will be a road map for the barriers that a large foreign bank has to overcome to do business in the U.S. with a charter,” Gannon says.

In addition to going the charter route, foreign banks are also looking to buy an existing American bank — a potentially faster route to operations than applying for a charter.

However, that can have drawbacks. Buying an existing bank comes with legacy operations, loans and a management team that an acquirer may not find desirable. The buyer would need to find an institution of the right size in the right market with the right kind of business model.

Management at OakNorth, which received a U.K. banking charter in 2015, started spending time in the U.S. several years ago to determine how the institution could distinguish itself here and serve American customers. It started lending in the U.S. in July 2023 — just months after the regional banking crisis that year — to middle-market businesses on the lower end of the revenue spectrum. That timing proved to be wise. “That opportunity became pretty big, pretty quickly,” Barbanel says.

It has since received regulatory approval for a representative U.S. office in August 2024, and then in March 2025, OakNorth announced it would buy Community Unity Bank in Birmingham, Michigan. The $95 million Community United was founded in 2023 and has a similar digital-first business model lending to lower mid-market businesses, making it an ideal fit for a deal. That acquisition is still pending but so far, OakNorth’s management has been happy with its U.S. results. It recently announced that it had seen a 33% uptick in gross originations in 2025, with 40% of that coming from the U.S. “It’s been a really good experience so far,” Barbanel says.

Foreign banks are likely to have a variety of business models for their U.S. operations, experts say. This could range from serving customers from their home countries who have business interests in the U.S. to providing consumer banking services digitally nationwide to targeting the small business segment. However, these new players are likely to avoid certain credit areas, such as originating commercial real estate loans and being involved with private credit, given the risks and maturity that underwriting these loans requires, Mastalli says.

To be successful, these lenders will need to ensure they are underwriting credit with an understanding of the cultural differences between Americans and customers of their home country. For instance, American households hold one of the highest debt-to-income ratios in the world. “That has to be built into collection models and collection behavior,” Klaros Group’s Kampf says.

OakNorth has found that Americans tend to be more litigious than the British, and that is something the institution has to consider when making credit decisions. “The incidents of litigation appearing on a borrower’s history is higher than we are used to in the U.K.,” Barbanel says. “We just have to make sure we are being diligent.”

But mostly, these new entrants will need to offer a reason for American customers to bank with them rather than the thousands of other options already currently available. “All aspects of the bank must cater to the U.S. market,” Kampf says. “The banks that take the approach of, ‘This worked in our market, so we will do it in the U.S., and it will work there,’ might struggle more.”

Barbanel acknowledges “that the U.S. has been the graveyard for U.K. financial services companies.” He believes the firm will succeed based on its ability to make quick credit decisions. OakNorth plans on using consumer deposits to fund business loans. Credit decisions are also made quickly — usually in 10 days to two weeks — something that business borrowers appreciate. And every borrower sits with OakNorth’s credit committee to discuss their business proposal, rather than having a relationship manager pitch the idea. The bank touts this as a key differentiator in being a digital-first bank while providing a human touch.

“I am a believer that just doing the same as everyone else won’t build you a business. That isn’t our approach,” Barbanel says. “We do immense velocity.”