Rain Bets on a Bank Charter for Stablecoin Payments
Hey Digital Banking Fanatic!
Rain wants to have its own bank. Sort of.
The stablecoin payments company has applied for a U.S. national trust bank charter that would let it custody digital assets and dollars, manage stablecoin reserves, and issue dollar-backed stablecoins.
But this wouldn’t be the kind of bank you open a checking account with. Rain’s proposed bank wouldn’t take deposits, offer checking accounts, or make loans.
Instead, it would give Rain a federally supervised entity for some of the financial services that sit behind its payments business.
And the timing caught my attention.
The company filed the application just days after community banking groups sued the OCC over its approach to national trust bank charters for crypto companies.
At the same time, another part of financial infrastructure is getting a major AI upgrade. Plaid just launched new AI models for credit, fraud and payments, trained across its network of more than 12,000 financial institutions and millions of consumers. Early testing showed a 20% lift for deep-subprime borrowers, up to 40% improvement in fraud detection, and 26.5% more ACH returns prevented.
Put together, these stories show how quickly the infrastructure underneath banking is changing, from who can provide regulated financial services to how those services make decisions.
Here’s what else is happening in digital banking today👇
See you tomorrow!
Cheers,
INSIGHTS
💡 Incognia: Behavioral biometrics may be getting asked to do too much. The way someone types, swipes or navigates can change with a new phone, setting or app reinstall, without their identity changing. Incognia’s André Ferraz looks at why fraud teams may need to think about behaviour over time rather than relying on a single session, especially as AI agents add another layer of complexity. The piece explores where behavioral biometrics fits in this changing landscape
NEWS
🇺🇸 Plaid unveils its Fall 2026 release for intelligent finance, including LendScore Arc, its first transformer model for credit risk. In early testing, Arc, which learns from transaction sequences, increased approvals by 20% for subprime borrowers.
🇺🇸 Maple selects IRACE Digital Bank for institutional banking and fiat settlement. The relationship will support Maple's cash management, fiat payments and settlement as the onchain asset manager deploys more capital into credit markets.
🇺🇸 Rain seeks a U.S. national trust bank charter amid a crypto charter lawsuit. If the OCC approves, the New York based bank could custody digital assets and issue USD backed stablecoins. The filing came three days after the Independent Community Bankers of America sued the OCC over its trust charter framework.
🇲🇾 Ryt Bank becomes Malaysia's first digital bank to support Apple Pay, letting cardholders pay in stores, online and in apps. Customers add their Ryt Card through the app, with transactions authenticated through Face ID, Touch ID or a passcode. The bank added Google Pay support in January 2026.
🇮🇱 Revolut ramps up Israeli hiring as it seeks a foothold in the banking market. Many openings cover credit, risk, collections, AML and compliance, reflecting the infrastructure needed to run a regulated financial institution. Calcalist reported in June 2025 that Revolut was in talks with the Bank of Israel over a lean bank license.
🇺🇸 Agora secures conditional OCC approval for a U.S. national trust bank, which would take over AUSD issuance and reserves from Agora Bermuda. The bank must meet capital, liquidity and compliance conditions before it can open.
🇨🇦 Engine by Starling powers Tangerine Bank's new business client offering. Tangerine Business launched less than a year after Tangerine adopted Engine's cloud native platform. It marks Engine's third client deployment in a new market within 12 months, following Salt Bank in Romania and AMP Bank GO in Australia.
🇺🇸 Lumin Digital launches Lumin Signal, a behavioral analytics offering for banks and credit unions. The launch brings behavioral intelligence to credit unions and banks. Lumin Digital aims to transform behavioral analytics for these institutions.
🇵🇱 BLIK Recurring Payments are now available to mBank customers, with mBank becoming the ninth institution to offer the service. Users can manage subscriptions and recurring bills inside their banking app without sharing card details.
🇬🇧 Wise partners with OakNorth to expand its infrastructure division, with the lender adopting Wise's international payments engine in its SME banking platform. The deal supports a target of 10% of group cross-border volumes for Wise Platform.
🇸🇬 Anchorage Digital expands its institutional banking services through a partnership with Standard Chartered. Eligible non-US clients can now access USD accounts and SWIFT transfers through Anchorage Digital Singapore, alongside crypto custody and trading, with 24/7 USD settlement available for counterparties banking with Standard Chartered Singapore.
🇬🇧 Revolut's commercial real estate lending chief Duncan Batty exits, less than two years after joining from M&G Investments. A spokesperson confirmed the departure, which appeared in Companies House filings, with no successor named.
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