Court Dismisses Suit Against OCC Fintech Charter Again

On September 3, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the OCC’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit seeking to block the OCC from granting special purpose national bank charters to fintech firms.

The lawsuit was the second filed by the organization to block the OCC fintech charter.  The first lawsuit was dismissed in May 2018 for lack of Article III standing and lack of ripeness for judicial review.  The current lawsuit was filed after the OCC announcement in July 2018 in which the OCC stated that it would begin accepting SPNB charter applications from fintech firms.

In this case, the judge stated that the organization “continues to lack standing and its claims remain unripe.”  The judge cited heavily to the Court’s reasoning in the original case, which she also authored.  The Court found that the organization lacks standing because it failed to plead an injury in fact that that is actual or imminent.  Citing to the original case, the Court reasoned that the alleged harms were contingent on the OCC chartering a fintech firm and that reasoning still applies.  The Court also found that the complaint was inadequate because it fails to identify which particular members of the organization face imminent injury.

The Court found that the dispute was not constitutionally or prudentially ripe stating that the dispute would benefit from a more concrete setting.  Additionally, the Court stated that the organization failed to explain how withholding a decision would cause immediate and significant hardship to the parties.

The Court denied the organization’s motion for discovery explaining that the information necessary to establish standing is publicly available and the OCC has already agreed to notify the organization when any fintech firm applies for a charter.