Trump-linked crypto firm gets OCC nod for trust bank charter; Fincen data shows how banks spot human smuggling—and more in Bankers' Hours

Trump-linked crypto firm gets OCC nod for trust bank charter

The approval, announced Friday afternoon by the agency, allows World Liberty to move forward in building a trust bank for issuing its USD1 stablecoin despite prior opposition from lawmakers and bank trade groups. It is the latest in a series of bank charter approvals the OCC has given out to fintechs and digital asset firms this year. More here.

Fincen data shows how banks spot human smuggling

Money used for human smuggling moves through U.S. banks disguised as everyday activity, just as it does with scams, fraud, money laundering and other financial crimes. Banks rarely flag it, but when they do, they flag large sums.

Banks and credit unions filed just 3% of the suspected human smuggling reports the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or Fincen, counted in an analysis published Thursday. But, banks' filings accounted for 61% of monetary volume — roughly $3 billion of the more than $4.9 billion in suspicious activity the reports describe. Money transmitters and other nonbank money services businesses filed nearly all the rest.

The analysis shows what it looks like when humans smuggling money surfaces inside a bank: accounts collecting deposits from dozens of strangers, cash withdrawn in amounts small enough to avoid automatically triggering a report and ATM traffic along the southwest border. More here.

Banks' reputations kept up this year, but new anxieties linger

The banking industry's reputation remained historically strong in 2026, but in a deregulatory environment, respondents disclosed anxiety about conduct and firms' responsiveness in the event of a crisis.

The industry's overall reputation score, measured on a scale of one to 100, largely kept pace with recent gains, dipping slightly 0.4 points, from 70.9 in 2025 to 70.5 this year, according to RepTrak. That kept banks in the firm's "strong" reputation range, but the decline in measures of public support for the industry was somewhat larger. More here.

What Citi gets from its Kard acquisition

At Citi's Investor Day in May, U.S. Head of Consumer Cards Pam Habner took the stage and said the $2.9 trillion-asset bank and the third largest credit card issuer in the country was going to reduce its dependency on "expensive, points-based rewards." On Thursday, it took a step toward that goal.

Citi agreed to acquire New York-based commerce media and rewards fintech Kard Financial for an undisclosed amount. Kard uses predictive artificial intelligence and first-party transaction data to offer customers personalized, merchant-funded rewards.

Kard will enable Citi to use verified transaction data, machine learning-powered matching and an expanded network of merchant relationships to improve incentive marketing, according to Abhinav Anand, Citi's head of value cards, lending and commerce. More here.

Amid deregulation, US BNPL firms look to Europe for guidance

The Trump administration's hands-off approach to buy-now-pay-later means banks shouldn't expect to see heightened federal regulation any time soon. Nonetheless, new rules in Europe and the U.K. could have implications for the broader market's continued growth.

What's happening around the world with respect to BNPL gains importance as U.S.-based players like Amazon and PayPal are emerging to a greater extent in foreign markets. PayPal and Amazon, for example, are launching buy now/pay later services for customers in Germany and Austria, beginning in August. Amazon's BNPL services are available in several regions outside the U.S. through various partnerships. PayPal, too, offers BNPL in multiple markets, including France, the U.K. and Australia.

"I think it's only going to get more competitive and you'll see bigger brands get increasingly involved," Nick Maynard, vice president of research at Juniper Research, told American Banker. More here.