Is Trump Good for Fintech, or Bad?

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There has been an enormous sense of anticipation flooding through the community and regional banks since the election. President-elect Donald Trump’s opposition to the Dodd-Frank Act, which has created a stifling regulatory environment, is well known and bankers feel that relief is on the way. By contrast, the election results have produced a sense of consternation and concern among the financial technology companies that are trying to partner and compete with community and regional banks. The regulatory picture is much more confusing under a Trump Administration for these enterprises.

One reason for this is that fintech regulation was far from a settled issue before the election. The regulatory framework for fintech is not in place to any significant degree. In many cases, it will take new regulations to allow many of the fintech lenders and payment companies to expand their operations, and that’s a problem. Trump is opposed to new financial regulations of any sort, and it may be difficult to get the new framework in place during his term in office. Rather than pass new federal legislation, he is likely to leave the matter in the hands of the state legislatures and that will not benefit fintech companies.

The creation of a limited purpose national fintech charter as proposed by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is an attempt to make it easier for these companies to operate and not have to deal with regulatory agencies on a state-by-state basis. But in my opinion, there won’t be that many fintech companies that are willing and able to handle the responsibilities of a national charter, so this will provide limited relief to the industry. I also will not be shocked to see the concept of a limited purpose charter unwound early in a Trump Administration as bankers have been huge supporters of the incoming president and in my experience, the average bank is not shy about asking for favors.

Fintech firms are also big supporters of net neutrality since it gives them open and even access to bandwidth to offer services to users. Trump is not a supporter, and neither are the ranking members of the GOP in the Senate and the House of Representatives. Republican lawmakers have already put forth a bill to end net neutrality that I think will pass early in the next session of Congress and I expect Trump to sign it when it reaches his desk.

Immigration policies will also be a potential negative for fintech companies. Immigrants make up a significant percentage of the skilled workforce within the financial technology industry, and anything that makes to harder for them to get here and stay here is going to create a talent challenge for the companies in that space. Fintech companies that focus on payments could be hurt as well since many of the people that Trump wants to deport use these systems to send money to family back home, and that volume could drop substantially.

The biggest threat to fintech firms from the new administration will likely come from the repeal or reduction of Dodd-Frank. A lot of the opportunities that fintech companies are pursuing were created by the handcuffs placed on banks by that legislation. If the handcuffs come off under the Trump Administration, then fintech lenders and payment companies will find that they now have to go head to head with the likes of JP Morgan Chase & Co., Citigroup and Bank of America Corp., and that will be no easy task.

The regulatory environment for financial technology was murky before the election, and it is even more so today. While we can expect the combination of a Trump Presidency and GOP-controlled Congress to be pro-business, we can also expect them to be very pro-traditional banking. That will be a big negative for fintech companies that had hoped to compete with the banks in the future.

While many expect fintech to be a major disruptor of the banking industry and some even think it will replace banking, I don’t expect that to happen—especially if banks end up with a more favorable regulatory environment. The fintech firms that prosper under a Trump Administration will be those that can partner with a bank to offer financial products and services to bank customers in a more efficient and profitable manner.

What To Know About the New Fintech Charter

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Don’t expect an onslaught of fintech companies rushing to become banks. The recent announcement that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency would begin accepting applications for special purpose national bank charters from fintech companies was met with gloom from some in the banking industry, and optimistic rejoicing from others.

For now, the impact on banking and innovation seems unclear, but the hurdles to obtaining a national banking charter will be significant, and include compliance with many of the same regulations that apply to other national banks, possibly dissuading many startup fintech companies from even wanting one. On the other hand, larger or more established players may find it worth the added regulatory costs to boost their marketing and attractiveness to investors, says Cliff Stanford, an attorney at Alston & Bird. Plus, fintech firms can avoid the m?©lange of state-by-state banking rules and regulations by opting for a national banking charter instead. So don’t be surprised if a Wal-Mart, Apple or Google decides to get a banking license, along with some other, less well known names. The online marketplace lender OnDeck has already said it was open to the possibility of a national bank charter.

The OCC is offering fintech companies the same charter many credit card companies and trust companies have. Basically, the institution has to become a member of the Federal Reserve, and is regulated as a national bank with the same capital standards and liquidity requirements as others. The company has to provide a detailed plan of what products and services it intends to offer, a potential hurdle for a nimble start-up culture more accustomed to experimentation than regulation. “They will have a high bar to meet and they might not be able to meet those requirements,” Stanford says.

However, if the special purpose bank doesn’t accept deposits, it won’t need to comply with the same regulations as banks insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which means it is exempt from the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). Although nondepository institutions would not have to comply with the CRA, the OCC described requirements to make sure the fintech companies follow a plan of inclusion, basically making sure they don’t discriminate, and promote their products to the underserved or small businesses. This has caused some consternation among community banks.

“Why should a tiny bank have to comply with CRA and a big national bank across America does not have to comply?’’ says C.R. “Rusty” Cloutier, the CEO of MidSouth Bancorp, a $1.9 billion asset bank holding company in Lafayette, Louisiana. “If they want a bank charter, that’s fine. Let’s just make sure they play by the same rules.”

The Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group, put out a press release saying it had “grave” concerns about what it called a “limited” bank charter. “We don’t want a charter that disadvantages one set of financial institutions,’’ says Paul Merski, an executive vice president at the ICBA. “We aren’t against innovation. But we want to make sure some institutions aren’t put at a disadvantage.”

Richard Fischer, an attorney in Washington, D.C., who represents banks, says he doesn’t think a fintech charter is a threat to banks. The Wal-Marts and Apples of the world will do what they want to do, whether or not they have a bank charter. Wal-Mart, which abandoned attempts to get a special purpose banking charter in 2007, already has a sizeable set of financial services, although it partners with banks that do have a charter, such as Green Dot Corp. in Pasadena, California.

Could a new fintech charter lead to fewer bank partnerships with fintech companies, as the fintech companies can cut out the need for a bank? Possibly. But it could also lead to more bank partnerships, as some banks, especially small or midsized banks, become more comfortable with the risk involved in doing business with a fintech company that has a national banking charter.

Jimmy Lenz, the director of technology risk at Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management, a division of Wells Fargo & Co., says he’s optimistic that a charter could create more products and services.

“I don’t see this cutting the pie into smaller slices,’’ he says. “I think they will be cutting a bigger pie. I don’t see the banks coming out on the short end of this.” Others said that the competition to banks coming from fintech companies already exists, and won’t go away if you don’t offer a federal charter for fintech companies. “The competition is already there,’’ Stanford says.