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Square commences operations under Industrial Bank Charter

Today, the Department of Financial Institutions for the State of Utah authorized Square Financial Services, Inc. to open for business as a state-chartered industrial bank.

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On September 17, 2017, Square, Inc. submitted an application to the Department to establish Square Financial Services, Inc. as a Utah-chartered, FDIC-insured, industrial bank. The application was materially amended on December 18, 2018. The Commissioner of Financial Institutions granted conditional approval of the application in an Order dated March 17, 2020. Having satisfied all opening requirements, the Department authorized the bank to open for business effective today’s date.

Square Financial Services, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Square, Inc., a publicly traded corporation headquartered in San Francisco, California. Square Financial Services, Inc., located in Salt Lake City, Utah, will offer banking products and services, including deposits, primarily to a nationwide market of small businesses, including those who operate as merchants on Square’s payment processing platform.

With today’s approval, Square Financial Services, Inc. becomes the sixteenth FDIC-insured industrial bank operating in the state of Utah. Utah industrial banks had total assets of $171 billion as of December 31, 2020.

Square Financial Services, Inc. is the second de novo industrial bank to open in Utah since 2008.

The Department is the regulator for all state-chartered banks, industrial banks, and credit unions. The Department also regulates trust companies, independent escrow companies, check cashers, deferred deposit lenders (payday), title lenders, consumer lenders, as well as first mortgage loan servicers, and third-party payment providers (money orders, travelers checks, wire transfers). As of December 31, 2020, Utah-chartered depository institutions had combined total assets of $365 billion.

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