Wise has been refused a US banking licence, the payments company said, months after switching its primary stock market listing from London to New York in May.
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) rejected the application because of historical issues with the original filing, including in relation to the prevention of financial crime, Wise said.
The London-headquartered company said it had applied for a national trust bank charter more than a year ago, submitting it in June last year. The charter is one of the licences issued by the OCC, the US regulator that supervises national banks and federal savings associations.
Wise already operates in the US. The licence would have given it direct access to payment systems through the Federal Reserve and allowed it to offer some financial services to customers, including fiduciary, custodial and safekeeping services to US consumers.
The company said the OCC’s decision does not affect its normal operations in the US, which run under existing money transfer licences.
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