Dutch Fintech Bunq Reapplies to Become a Bank in the US

Dutch neobank bunq has just reapplied for a US national banking charter, restarting its push to operate as a full-service bank in the United States after withdrawing an earlier application in 2024.​

What bunq just did

• Bunq submitted a new application for a US national bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which supervises federal banks in the US.​

• This comes about two years after it pulled its initial 2023/2024 OCC–FDIC application, which stalled for roughly 10 months amid disagreements between US and Dutch regulators.​

Why bunq withdrew before

• In its first attempt, bunq applied in April 2023 but later withdrew after about 301 days, citing “difference of views” between the OCC, the FDIC and its home regulator in the Netherlands.​

• Regulatory frictions and uncertainty over how a cross-border neobank should be supervised appear to have been key reasons for stepping back at that time.​

What changed since then

• In October 2025, bunq obtained a US broker-dealer licence from FINRA, allowing it to offer US stock and fund investing to American clients, which gave it an initial regulatory foothold in the market.​

• Executives now point to a more favourable US regulatory and political climate for challenger banks and fintechs under President Trump, which they see as a better moment to refile for a full banking licence.​

bunq’s US strategy

• Bunq says it will focus on “digital nomads”, expats and globally mobile users with ties to both Europe and the US, leveraging its existing 20+ million European user base.​

• If licensed, bunq plans to start in large US metropolitan areas with big expat communities and offer features like parallel US and European accounts and tools to help newcomers build US credit scores using European financial histories.​

What a US bank charter would allow

• A successful OCC de novo bank licence would let bunq accept US deposits and offer a broader suite of banking products beyond investments, bringing it in line with other full-stack neobanks operating in the US.​

• The move also aligns bunq with a wider wave of fintechs (such as PayPal, Nubank and others) seeking US banking charters to deepen their presence in the world’s largest financial market.​