The Treasury Department provided 80 recommendations, including: a "sandbox" giving regulatory relief to startups, reduction in payday-lending rules, and a fresh look at rules governing fintech investments by banks. The recommendations preceeded the OCC's decision to accept applications for special purpose fintech charters.
Many of the Treasury’s roughly 80 recommendations require additional action from regulators or Congress to bring to reality. Others face hurdles. Any application for a fintech bank charter is likely to face a lawsuit from state regulators, for instance. Industry reaction to the report was broadly positive from banks, payment companies, online lenders and others. Brian Knight, a senior research fellow at George Mason University who has argued current U.S. rules for fintechs are inefficient, said the regulatory regime described in the report toed a middle ground. “It increases competitiveness of fintechs, to the extent they are disadvantaged under the current environment, but in other areas [it] will help banks,” he said.