Point-of-Sale Finance Series: Bank Charters, M&A, and Partnerships — Strategic Paths for Fintech and Payment Companies

And practically speaking, what should a point of sale finance company be doing now to prepare for one of those paths that we just talked about? And how would that answer change if you're a legal counsel?

Regardless of the path that a company chooses to go down, I think it's helpful to start considering the regulatory and compliance requirements early on.

and start, if possible, getting into conversations and informal discussions with the potential regulators to start teeing up whichever path that they choose.

Another thing to consider when you're a point of sale finance company would be to start building your internal compliance infrastructure now.

I think that's one of the things that takes a lot longer for companies to get in place When they go down one of these paths, I think they're more focused on the contracts, talking to regulators and getting that in place.

And then it's the actual operational components of it that may delay a launch.

And so start building that compliance infrastructure now, not later.

One thing that I would also recommend is to get in touch with legal counsel and preferably regulatory legal counsel and start talking to them about the different paths, whether to partner with an existing bank, acquire an existing charter or charter a new bank.

I would contact Troutman Regulatory Council, not just any regulatory council.

But I think Sarah's spot on.

The readiness to be a regulated bank or the readiness to be in a contract with a regulated bank where a lot of that regulation is passed down to you by contract, that's really what takes a while.

And no matter which route you're going to go, there's a lot of wood to chop there.

And so getting prepared for either path takes exactly what Sarah just said.

Yeah, I think that makes a lot of sense.

And the compliance attorney in me loves the nod to keeping the operational compliance at the top of mind.

And James, as you said, that's one of the things we do great here is blending that transactional world with the regulatory and compliance world.