The news: The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago approved fintech SmartBiz’s acquisition of Northbrook, Illinois-based Centrust Bank, N.A., per Bloomberg—allowing the fintech to become SmartBiz Bank. This could signal a regulatory environment in which more fintechs will be approved for banking charters.

The fintech-to-bank conversion is the first since 2021, following similar moves by LendingClub and SoFi. And though much of this acquisition’s legwork happened under the Biden administration, no fintech-to-bank transitions were approved under his presidency.

The details: Centrust will retain its staff and branch, while SmartBiz Bank will operate digitally, leveraging its fintech platform to expand nationally, per The Financial Brand. SmartBiz Bank plans to broaden its funding sources by introducing a small-business deposit product by the end of 2025.