Acting Comptroller of the Currency Presents Winter Park National Bank Its Charter

WINTER PARK, Fla.—Acting Comptroller of the Currency Keith A. Noreika issued the following statement after presenting Winter Park National Bank its official charter: 

I am proud to present the first full-service national bank charter since the financial crisis to Winter Park National Bank of Florida. Since 1863, Comptrollers have granted charters to national banks to operate across the country under a single, uniform regulatory framework, subject to a single primary prudential supervisor. For more than 150 years since, the label of “national bank” has helped bestow confidence in individual institutions and the system as a whole because that label is accompanied by value-added supervision and access to the very best experts in regulation, risk management, compliance, legal, and economics available.

While Winter Park National Bank is the first de novo national bank and first de novo approved for federal deposit insurance in Florida since the financial crisis, I am encouraged that we are seeing increasing interest in becoming new banks and that de novo activity appears to be thawing slowly as the economy warms. But, de novo banks are still exceedingly rare. Making the process of establishing de novo banks more efficient can only accelerate the recent positive trend and create more economic opportunity for consumers, businesses, and communities across the nation.

As a new national bank, Winter Park is joining the world’s most diverse and respected system of banks. I congratulate the men and women of Winter Park National Bank, and I wish them great success in meeting the financial service and banking needs of the consumers, businesses, and communities it serves.