Salt Lake City— Today, the Department of Financial Institutions for the State of Utah authorized Nelnet Bank to open for business as a state-chartered industrial bank.
On November 12, 2019, the organizers of Nelnet Bank submitted an application to the Department to establish Nelnet Bank as a Utah-chartered, FDIC-insured, industrial bank. 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.Nelnet Bank is a wholly owned subsidiary of Nelnet, Inc., a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Lincoln, Nebraska. Nelnet Bank, located in Draper, Utah, will primarily offer banking products and services, including deposits, on a nationwide basis to consumers, students, and nonprofits associated with the education market.
With today’s approval, Nelnet Bank becomes the fifteenth FDIC-insured industrial bank operating in the state of Utah. Utah industrial banks had total assets of $156 billion as of June 30, 2020.
Nelnet Bank is the first 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 June 30, 2020, Utah-chartered depository institutions had combined total assets of $350 billion.