Industrial loan companies (ILCs), enumerated — FDIC-insured, Fed-unsupervised, and surging
Built 2026-06-15. Structured data + edges: macro-ilcs.json. Deep companion to macro-uncovered-risk-pools §3. (WebFetch unavailable; figures from FDIC/CRS/Utah DFI/trade press. Corrections: Morgan Stanley is NOT an ILC — it converted to a BHC in 2008, as did Goldman/GMAC; EnerBank was acquired by Regions (2021); USAA uses a federal savings bank.)
23 active industrial banks, ~$247.4B (Mar 2025) — FDIC-insured yet their commercial/fintech parents escape Fed consolidated (BHC) supervision. UBS Bank USA alone (~$116B) is ~47% of the sector and larger than Signature Bank was when it failed. After a long drought, the FDIC just approved a wave of commercial-parent ILCs (Ford, GM, Stellantis, Edward Jones, Thrivent) with PayPal, Affirm, Nissan pending — the most active period since the mid-2000s.
Aggregate
- 23 charters / ~$247.4B (Mar 31 2025, FDIC RFI): 6 ≥$10B, 8 between $1-10B, 9 under $1B. Largest UBS Bank USA ~$116.3B (~47% of sector). Grew from ~$165B (2020). Utah charters the bulk (~$220B); also NV, CA, CO, HI, IN, MN.
The loophole
- CEBA 1987 carved ILCs out of the Bank Holding Company Act "bank" definition — so the ILC gets the federal deposit-insurance safety net while its commercial/fintech parent escapes Fed consolidated supervision (the separation-of-banking-and-commerce breach; GAO-12-160, CRS R46489).
- Moratoria: FDIC Aug 2006 (Walmart), Dodd-Frank 2010-13. The 2020 Part 354 rule requires parent source-of-strength commitments — but not Fed oversight. The July-2025 FDIC RFI signals possible loosening; ICBA campaigns to close it.
The enumerated charters (largest six ≥$10B ★)
| ILC | Parent | Assets | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| ★ UBS Bank USA | UBS | ~$116.3B (Mar 2025) | UT |
| ★ Sallie Mae Bank | SLM Corp | ~$29.6B (Sep 2025) | UT |
| ★ Optum Bank | UnitedHealth (Optum) | ~$20B (Dec 2025) | UT |
| ★ Beal Bank USA | Beal Financial | ~$18.0B (Dec 2024) | NV |
| ★ Toyota Financial Savings Bank | Toyota FS | ~$15-16B | NV |
| ★ Comenity Capital Bank | Bread Financial | ~$13.3B (Dec 2024) | UT |
| BMW Bank of N.A. | BMW | ~$12.0B (Dec 2023) | UT |
| Celtic / Medallion / Square / Pitney Bowes / WebBank / Nelnet / Thrivent | Celtic / Medallion Financial / Block / Pitney Bowes / Steel Partners / Nelnet / Thrivent | ~$3.4B / ~$2.6B / ~$816M / ~$806M / ~$2-3B / (2020) / (opened Jun 2025) | UT |
The remaining ~9 sub-$1B charters (First Electronic, WEX Bank, Eaglemark/Harley, LCA, TAB, Finance Factors) round out the 23 (long-tail composition graded weak — needs live FDIC BankFind).
The 2025-26 approval wave
- Approved: Ford Credit Bank + GM Financial Bank (conditional, ~Jan 2026); Stellantis Bank USA (May 2026); Edward Jones; Thrivent (opened Jun 2025).
- Pending: Nissan Bank U.S. (Jun 2025), PayPal (Dec 2025), Affirm (BNPL, Jan 2026; ICBA opposes). Withdrawn historically: Rakuten, Brex, Walmart. The auto-finance + fintech rush is the live story.
Stress precedent
- Fremont Investment & Loan (~$13B CA ILC, top-10 subprime): FDIC C&D (2007), PCA directive (Mar 2008), parent Fremont General Chapter 11 (Jun 2008) — the marquee ILC parent-risk event.
Synthesis
The ILC charter extends federal deposit insurance to commercial/fintech parents the Fed does not consolidatedly supervise — concentrated ~half in one bank (UBS Bank USA) — and it's growing fastest precisely as the July-2025 FDIC RFI signals the 2020 patch may loosen. A parallel insured-deposit pool in the uncovered stack (macro-uncovered-risk-pools).
What is NOT asserted
- The "loophole" is a documented policy debate (ICBA et al.), not an allegation against any ILC.
- Per-bank assets mix 2024/2025 vintages; WebBank/Nelnet exact + the ~9 sub-$1B tail are weak.
- Morgan Stanley is not an ILC; EnerBank was acquired; USAA uses a federal savings bank. The "~$25B in 1997" baseline is weak (documented baseline ~$165B in 2020).
- Overlay edges are excluded from the proofs.
Sources: FDIC RFI on industrial banks (Fed. Register, Jul 2025); CRS R46489 — ILCs; Utah DFI — Industrial Banks; Better Markets — ILC corporate banks; ICBA — closing the ILC loophole; Holland & Knight — Part 354; GAO-12-160; Banking Dive — FDIC conditionally approves Ford, GM; FDIC — Stellantis Bank USA approval.
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