Avant Seeks National Bank Charter to Serve Customers Directly

FinTech company Avant filed an application to establish an insured national bank called Avant Bank, N.A., the company said in a Friday (Sept. 18) press release.

Avant filed the application for a national bank charter with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., according to the release.

Avant uses data and machine learning to deliver access to credit cards, personal loans, a personal financial management tool, and other financial products and services, according to the release.

The proposed national bank charter would enable Avant to serve customers directly, expand access to credit, and offer banking products and financial health tools via an integrated digital banking platform, the release said.

Avant Co-Founder and CEO Al Goldstein said in the release that since its founding in 2012, Avant has focused on more than 100 million Americans who are overlooked by the current financial system and has developed a data-driven approach to credit that serves this population.

“A national bank charter would further our mission, help reduce our cost of funds and enable us to offer products under one regulatory framework,” Goldstein said.

If the application is approved, Avant Chief Business Officer Charles Whittaker would become the CEO of Avant Bank, N.A., per the release.

“For more than a decade, we’ve worked to give middle-income Americans a fairer shot at credit than their credit score alone would suggest,” Whittaker said. “A national bank charter would let us build and service our products end-to-end with the goal of creating more meaningful value for our customers.”

PYMNTS reported Aug. 26 that a rash of financial services firms are securing bank charters. Over the 90 days ended Aug. 24, the OCC made nine significant charter determinations, including six preliminary conditional approvals, one final approval and two denials.

On Sept. 10, PYMNTS reported that FinTech and digital asset companies are pursuing regulated institutions with different powers and different roles inside their existing organizations.

When Avant announced in February that it closed a $200 million personal loan securitization to provide over $500 million in financing capacity over its 24-month life, the company said that was its 23rd personal loan securitization since its founding in 2012 and its seventh revolving transaction.