United Texas Bank (UTB) announced on May 27 that it has completed its conversion to a nationally chartered bank after receiving approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) on May 15. This move makes UTB one of the first U.S. banks to successfully complete an OCC conversion since the Dodd-Frank Act was passed 15 years ago. The conversion positions UTB as a bridge between the cryptocurrency industry and traditional financial institutions, granting it full trust powers and direct access to the Federal Reserve's wire and ACH systems. Unlike Wall Street giants like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase, which are only beginning to explore crypto, UTB already processes over $120 billion in transactions annually for crypto firms. UTB CEO Scott Beck emphasized that the bank's proprietary BSA/AML compliance platform, UTB PRISM SENTINAL, was developed in response to a prior Consent Order with the Federal Reserve. The bank is also launching UTB Atomic, an AI-driven real-time payment network designed to enable 24/7 settlement for institutional crypto traders, addressing liquidity bottlenecks that arose after the collapse of Silvergate and Signature Bank. With a comprehensive digital asset custody service planned for this summer, UTB aims to become the native financial infrastructure for the next era of global commerce.

Key facts

• UTB secured OCC approval to convert to a nationally chartered bank on May 15.
• The conversion grants UTB federal licensure, trust powers, and Fed wire/ACH access.
• UTB processes over $120 billion in crypto transactions annually for crypto firms.
• The bank launched UTB Atomic, an AI-powered real-time payment network for 24/7 settlement.
• UTB developed proprietary compliance platform UTB PRISM SENTINAL after a Fed Consent Order.