Sony Bank announced conditional approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on July 7, 2026, to charter Connectia Trust as a new U.S. national trust bank subsidiary.
Key Takeaways
- Sony Bank won conditional OCC approval to charter Connectia Trust, a Sony Financial Group subsidiary that will issue U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins.
- Connectia Trust will be capitalized at $40 million and is set for formation this month, with Sony Bank targeting a 2027 launch.
- The OCC’s broader trust-charter wave has already reached Circle, Ripple, and Paxos, plus Morgan Stanley, making Sony the group’s first commercial-conglomerate applicant.
- Banking trade groups, including the Bank Policy Institute and Independent Community Bankers of America, formally objected when Sony’s application went public in October.
- Klaros Group’s Roman Goldstein says the charter gives Sony a direct path to federal qualified issuer status under the GENIUS Act.
What Happened?
Sony Bank, the online banking arm of Sony Financial Group, said in a statement that the trust subsidiary is meant “to contribute to the development of a medium-to-long-term business foundation for the Sony Financial Group’s digital asset businesses.” The OCC published its conditional approval the same day.
Connectia Trust is being established “in preparation for the commercialization of businesses related to the issuance and management of U.S. dollar-denominated stablecoins in the United States,” according to a Japanese securities disclosure Sony filed because the trust’s capitalization exceeds 10% of Sony Financial Group’s own capital.
Sony Bank said it will be the sole owner and shareholder of the trust subsidiary, and cautioned that “no business activities, including the issuance of stablecoins, will be conducted” until the OCC’s final approval. A dollar-backed stablecoin aimed at Sony’s PlayStation, music, and film customers would also reshape Crypto user demographics well beyond today’s crypto-native trading base.
LATEST: Sony Bank has received conditional OCC approval to establish Connectia Trust, a US national trust bank planned for USD-backed stablecoin services across Sony’s global ecosystem, aiming for a 2027 launch. pic.twitter.com/ifbxFRo25y
— 36crypto (@36Crypto2) July 9, 2026
Sony Joins a Crowded OCC Charter Wave
National trust bank charters have seen a spike in interest under OCC chief Jonathan Gould, with Circle, Ripple, and Paxos among the first wave of approvals in December. Morgan Stanley has also sought a trust charter for a nascent digital-asset offshoot.
Circle and Ripple already anchor a large share of crypto exchange market as stablecoin issuers. Sony’s entry differs from both cohorts: it is neither crypto-native nor a Wall Street bank, but a consumer-electronics and entertainment conglomerate building bank-grade rails for its own ecosystem.
That distinction matters more than the approval itself. A conglomerate moving money inside a closed consumer ecosystem carries a different risk profile than a crypto-native issuer selling into open markets, yet the OCC’s public approvals treat both under the same trust-charter framework.
Roman Goldstein, senior director at financial services advisory firm Klaros Group, called Sony’s venture the “first commercial-conglomerate ecosystem bank” in a Wednesday LinkedIn post. He flagged its unusual supervisory split: the OCC supervises the trust bank while Japan’s Financial Services Agency supervises the parent, leaving no Federal Reserve role in the structure.
The Unresolved Legal Question
When Sony’s application went public in October, it drew objections from the Bank Policy Institute, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition. All three argued a trust charter gives a stablecoin issuer bank-level credibility without bank-level obligations, such as deposit insurance or Community Reinvestment Act duties.
This is the same crypto regulation enforcement fight playing out across every federal stablecoin charter, not a Sony-specific complaint. The OCC’s one Sony-specific condition: it may at any point require the subsidiary to install a full-time, non-dual-role chief financial officer.
A sharper statutory dispute surfaced during the comment period. A commenter argued federal law bars a national bank’s trust department from holding “deposits of current funds subject to check,” and that the ban covers stablecoins.
OCC replied the trust bank’s stablecoins weren’t deposits or checks because they live in a closed loop payment system, Goldstein wrote, while noting the regulator’s reasoning does not address how that prohibition would apply to a stablecoin issued on a public blockchain.
Sony’s plan leans on Bastion Platforms, a California trust-charter applicant, to handle issuance, reserve management, and custody, per a partnership Sony Financial Group announced in December of last year.
CoinLaw’s Takeaway
The real fight in 2026’s trust-charter wave is what “closed loop” means once GENIUS Act qualified-issuer status is on the table. Goldstein told American Banker the structure gives Sony a direct relationship with the regulator that sets the terms of stablecoin issuance, control over its own compliance program, and the yield on its reserves.
That logic explains why a company that already runs a regulated bank in Japan wants a second, U.S.-specific charter instead of renting one from a partner. More than 30% of Sony’s global revenue comes from the United States, which explains the appetite for a direct supervisory line to Washington rather than a borrowed one. Whether a public-chain stablecoin can ever satisfy the OCC’s “closed loop” logic will decide if trust charters like Connectia’s stay a conglomerate niche or become the default route for every major stablecoin issuer.
