Revolut’s conditional US bank charter approval and a fresh $410 million share sale by XTB’s co-founder headlined a week in which regulators, brokers and prop firms all moved quickly across retail trading and fintech.
Revolut US Bank Charter: What the OCC’s Approval Actually Means
The US Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has granted Revolut preliminary conditional approval to operate as a national bank, designated Corporate Decision #1390. The proposed bank, to be called Revolut Bank US, National Association, will be headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with no branches.
The OCC received the de novo application on 4 March 2026, with the organising group filing formally on 10 March 2026. Revolut Bank US, N.A. will be a wholly owned subsidiary of Revolut Holdings US Inc., according to the interagency charter application filed with the OCC and FDIC.
One detail buried in the approval matters for investors watching the fintech’s ambitions: the preliminary conditional approval explicitly excludes a retail foreign exchange business. Revolut Bank US must submit separate information to the OCC before it can commence retail FX services under 12 CFR 48.4. In other words, the charter unlocks deposit-taking and broader banking, but FX comes later.
The conditional approval does not yet allow Revolut to operate as a full national bank. The company must still satisfy requirements with the OCC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Federal Reserve before the structure can go live. CEO Nik Storonsky said the company wants to serve US customers fully and directly across its range of products.
Nigeria’s New CFD Rules Close a Regulatory Gap
Nigeria’s Securities and Exchange Commission published its proposed Rules on Online Forex Trading and Contract for Difference on 1 September 2026. The rules apply to any person engaging in or offering online forex trading to residents of Nigeria, including operators based outside the country who target Nigerian clients.
The framework bans binary options outright and places a 1:2 leverage cap on crypto-related CFD products (CFDs are contracts that let traders speculate on price moves without owning the underlying asset). It also prohibits promoters and executives from using luxury lifestyles on social media to imply those lifestyles were generated through retail trading.
Before this proposal, the Nigerian SEC had issued a public notice warning that anyone participating in online retail forex trading did so entirely at their own risk, as no regulatory framework had yet been developed. The new rules close that gap. Comments were due within two weeks of the 1 September publication date.
XTB Founder’s Latest Stake Reduction
XTB co-founder Jakub Zabłocki sold exactly 9,405,540 shares in the Warsaw-listed broker, representing 8% of XTB’s total share capital, for approximately $410 million. The shares were placed at 160 zlotys each through an accelerated bookbuilding process, at roughly an 8% discount to the preceding day’s close of over 174 zlotys, according to Finance Magnates.
The transaction reduces Zabłocki’s stake from 35.78% to 27.78% and was carried out through XX ZW Investment Group, a Luxembourg-registered vehicle he majority-owns. The bookrunners managing the bookbuilding were Bank Handlowy (Citigroup’s Polish corporate arm), Citigroup and UniCredit, in cooperation with Kepler Cheuvreux S.A., according to FX News Group.
This is at least the fifth reduction in Zabłocki’s holding since 2023. XTB posted a record net profit of 535 million zlotys in Q1 2026, up almost 176% year on year, and its shares jumped nearly 12% in a single session earlier in 2026 on record client growth. Zabłocki remains the largest single shareholder and retains his seat on the supervisory board.
Deriv, FTMO and the Broker Diversification Push
Deriv secured a banking licence from the Financial Services Authority of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), granted to a separate entity from its existing offshore business there. CEO Rakshit Choudhary said the licence is part of a broader jurisdictional expansion. The banking status is expected to reduce Deriv’s reliance on third parties for deposits and withdrawals, giving the broker more direct control over its payments infrastructure.
Separately, Choudhary outlined a target of automating 75% of manual workflows by the end of 2026, with more than 100 AI engineers brought in to help non-engineering staff adopt the technology.
SVG’s Financial Services Authority also suspended new virtual asset business applications until further notice, saying the pause will allow it to strengthen internal capacity. Applications submitted before 1 September 2026 remain unaffected and continue through the existing process.
In prop trading, FTMO launched a beta version of a futures offering, with challenges offering up to $450,000 in simulated capital. FTMO also resumed services for US-based traders through MetaTrader 5, having previously suspended US access in 2024.
Tickmill co-founder Ingmar Mattus argued that CFD brokers face a growing relevance problem. Speaking to Finance Magnates, he said firms that focus too narrowly on higher-margin CFD products risk losing traders who are already moving towards equities, ETFs and futures. His investment vehicle, Andromeda Capital Partners, has backed diversification projects including TradersYard and MetroTrade.
The week’s broader theme, from Revolut’s OCC milestone to Nigeria formalising its first retail forex framework, is that the regulatory and competitive environment around retail trading is tightening from multiple directions. Brokers with narrow product ranges and no banking infrastructure of their own face the most pressure as that process continues.
