Stripe applies for US banking licence to scale merchant acquiring abilities

By obtaining the MALPB charter, Stripe can further support its objective of accessing payment card networks. Following this, Stripe aims to scale its payment processing offerings, with the company planning to receive direct membership in the US with Visa and Mastercard and to process transactions without a sponsoring bank.

Moreover, Stripe’s membership with the two card networks comes as an addition to existing processing and settlement activities, not leading to the replacement of present banking relationships or the acquisition of BIN sponsorships. Also, the MALPB does not indicate Stripe’s expansion into additional traditional banking activities.

The charter focuses on merchant acquiring and does not include deposit taking or related banking activities. The charter or application itself demands payment volume capital and several capital requirements that are based in part on traditional banking standards and capital ones and those applicable to similar organisations operating as merchant acquirer members of card networks in the EU under the framework created in the Payment Services Directive (PSD).

Commenting on the news, representatives from Stripe underlined that, as their company has expanded, it has scaled the number of banking and other partners it collaborates with. The Georgia MALPB supports Stripe’s strategic direction, enabling the company to further develop its operations and capabilities.

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The approval for the MALPB charter comes just two months after Stripe completed the acquisition of Bridge, a fintech company focusing on facilitating payments via stablecoins. The deal was set to enable Stripe and Bridge to expand the capabilities of digital dollars and offer them to businesses, regardless of their location. The move came as part of Stripe’s focus on the digital asset sector after a six-year hiatus from including crypto-related services as part of its offering.