The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has approved neobank Bunq’s bid for a U.S. broker-dealer license, the Dutch lender announced Monday.

The license allows users to invest in U.S. stocks, including mutual funds and exchange-traded funds. Bunq on Monday called the development a “first step in bringing user-centric products across the Atlantic.”

“Our users roam the world – they live, work and travel across borders,” Bunq CEO Ali Niknam said in a release Monday. “For many, the U.S. is an important part of their lives.”

Bunq has been trying to break into the U.S. market for years. The fintech applied for a banking license in April 2023 with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., hoping to tap into a digital-nomad user base. 

“At Bunq we’d rather do things right than rush things,” Niknam said months later, adding that he expected a “tough but fair” application process.

The company, however, withdrew its application after a 301-day wait, citing a “difference of views” between financial regulators in the U.S. and the Netherlands. 

Now, amid a perception of relaxed financial regulations under the Trump administration – versus a more skeptical approach in the previous Biden era – there’s been a surge in fintech and crypto firms applying for licenses. Coinbase, Circle, Paxos, Stripe subsidiary Bridge and, most recently, Crypto.com have all applied for a national trust charter this year.

That has prompted several bank and credit union trade groups to lay out “substantial concerns” in urging the OCC to delay approving the charter applications.

Bunq, for its part, aims to refile for a broader U.S. banking license “once everything is ready,” a spokesperson for the company told Reuters.

The Dutch lender announced in April that it had applied with FINRA – as it disclosed profits that surged by 65% year over year. 

“Our users live an international lifestyle, and they need a bank that’s global too,” Niknam said at the time.