Sony Wins OCC Conditional Trust Charter For Stablecoin Unit
Sony disclosed that the OCC has conditionally approved a U.S. national trust bank for Connectia Trust, a Sony Financial Group subsidiary that would issue and manage dollar-denominated stablecoins. Sony said the unit will be capitalised at $40 million, while trade groups and consumer advocates objected to the charter path.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has conditionally approved Sony’s plan to establish a U.S. national trust bank, giving the Japanese conglomerate a charter route for a stablecoin venture that banking groups and consumer advocates challenged months earlier.
The approval covers Connectia Trust, a subsidiary of Sony Financial Group that Sony plans to form this month.
The company said Connectia will be capitalized at $40 million and prepared for the issuance and management of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins in the United States.
Sony has not identified a representative to lead the trust.
International Business Times reported that the company is preparing to launch Connectia in 2027.
Sony’s disclosure did not specify which products the trust would offer or whether it would serve retail or institutional customers.
Charter and operating plan
Sony disclosed the OCC’s conditional approval on Monday.
The company is establishing Connectia “in preparation for the commercialization of businesses related to the issuance and management of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins in the United States.”
Sony was required to disclose the licensing development to a local finance bureau under Japan’s Financial Instruments and Exchange Act because Connectia’s $40 million capitalization exceeds 10% of Sony Financial Group’s capital, according to Tokyo Brief.
The approval comes as interest in national trust-bank charters has increased under OCC chief Jonathan Gould.
Recent applicants have included crypto companies Circle, Ripple and Paxos, which were among the first wave of recent trust-bank approvals in December.
Morgan Stanley has also sought a trust charter for a new offshoot.
Objections to the trust-bank model
Sony’s application became public in October and drew objections from the Bank Policy Institute, the Independent Community Bankers of America and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
The NCRC argued that granting trust charters to stablecoin issuers would blur the statutory boundaries of what constitutes a bank.
The organization said the charter could provide Connectia with “the reputational benefits, enhanced market credibility and federal regulatory status of a banking institution” without many of the obligations attached to those privileges.
A trust bank would not be required to comply with the Community Reinvestment Act, the NCRC said.
The ICBA said it also would not be required to hold deposit insurance, creating a risk of consumer “confusion” and “harm” if the company became insolvent.
“The OCC’s untested receivership framework is wholly unequipped to resolve an uninsured, systemically significant stablecoin issuer like Connectia risking permanent customer losses and market contagion,” the ICBA said in November.
The NCRC described the arrangement as a potential “two-tier system” in which digital-asset firms receive comparable federal status without comparable public obligations.
The BPI said the application raised questions about the longstanding separation of banking and commerce.
Conditions and unresolved scope
Roman Goldstein, a senior director at financial-services advisory firm Klaros Group, wrote on LinkedIn that the OCC had not avoided the banking-and-commerce objections but had instead concluded that the law permits the integration.
He called Sony’s venture the “first commercial-conglomerate ecosystem bank.”
Goldstein noted that the OCC would supervise Connectia while Japan’s Financial Services Agency supervises Sony’s parent bank, describing it as “a foreign-owned bank with no Fed in the picture.” He also said the OCC imposed a condition allowing it to require Sony’s subsidiary to appoint a full-time, non-dual-role CFO at any point.
During the public-comment period, one commenter argued that a national bank could not receive certain deposits or collection instruments through its trust department and that the restriction applied to stablecoins.
Goldstein wrote that the OCC responded that Connectia’s stablecoins would not be deposits or checks because they would operate in a closed-loop payment system.
Goldstein added that the reasoning did not address how the restriction would apply to stablecoins on public chains.
Connectia’s first products, customer base, public-chain design and final launch timing remain undisclosed.
