The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is receiving pushback yet again on its proposed charter that would allow fintech companies to become special purpose banks. This time, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors has rolled out a plan that could be viewed as a rival to the federal bank regulator's charter.

Lawyers who work for and with fintechs are encouraged that the state regulators at the CSBS are at least thinking about changes to the system that they believe would modernize state regulations of nonbanks or help centralize regulation among the states. A current lack of regulatory harmonization across states was one of the major concerns voiced by supporters of the OCC's fintech charter.

“If the OCC's proposed charter—whether it goes through or not—stimulated this type of thought, it has proven to be a significant improvement over where we were,” said Jarrett Hale, a partner at Hunton & Williams. “It has gotten people thinking … about how this industry really works.”