Trump Family Seeks to Launch Bank Amid Deregulation Surge

The Trump family is on the cusp of owning their own bank, thanks to preliminary approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC). This development comes at a rare opportunity: the difficulty of applying for a national bank charter has dropped significantly under the Trump administration's push for deregulation. In the first 19 months of Trump's second term, the OCC approved 22 bank charter applications, surpassing the total number approved in the previous five years.

Many of these newly approved institutions come from the fintech and digital asset sectors. The approval process has become faster under the leadership of OCC head Jonathan Gould, aiming to respond to each application within 120 days. However, it is uncertain how long this approval window will last, as the Republican Party faces a crucial test in the midterm elections this November.

World Liberty Financial, owned by the Trump family, has joined this round of new bank applicants alongside other notable companies like Circle, Nu Holdings Ltd., and Coinbase Global Inc. The core goal for World Liberty Financial is to expand the use of their USD-pegged stablecoin, USD1, by establishing a bank that can hold assets to support it.

This move will make President Trump the first sitting U.S. president to have a bank founded by his children during his term.