Varo Money Believes Preliminarily Approvals Signal New Age in Banking

U.S. digital only bank Varo Money recently received preliminary approval from the OCC to become a national bank; the company believes they will be operating as a bank within a year; steps still remain as they need approval from the Federal Reserve and the FDIC; Varo CEO Colin Walsh tells American Banker, “I think this preliminary approval marks the beginning of a new age where digital banks are going to come into their own and bring a different experience.”; it is an interesting test case for the market and one that will be watched closely to see how it works out; unlike other digital banks Varo aspired to become a full national bank early on in their life cycle, most others use a traditional bank partner to operate a banking experience; unlike the ILC charter Varo’s national bank charter has not brought out many naysayers as they are required to reach certain regulator levels and capital buffers. Source.