Choice Financial Group, Fargo, North Dakota, entered an FDIC and NDFI joint consent order effective December 18, 2023 for BSA violations and third-party program deficiencies found in a June 2023 joint examination, requiring AML/CFT program overhaul, enhanced CIP and CDD procedures, and a customer and transaction lookback review for third-party onboarded accounts.

Choice Financial Group — FDIC/NDFI BSA and Third-Party Consent Order (2023)

Outcome: Choice Financial Group, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota and a partner bank for fintech companies including Mercury, Current, and Lili, entered a joint FDIC and North Dakota Department of Financial Institutions (NDFI) consent order effective December 18, 2023 for Bank Secrecy Act violations related to its third-party fintech partnership programs, with no stated monetary penalty but extensive remediation requirements.

Choice Financial Group served as the regulated banking backbone for several prominent fintech platforms — including Mercury (business banking), Current, and Lili — providing the bank infrastructure for accounts held by fintech customers. A June 5, 2023 joint FDIC and NDFI examination found violations of the Bank Secrecy Act and FDIC implementing regulations, with specific deficiencies traced to the bank's third-party program operations where fintech partners had onboarded customers without adequate BSA/AML controls.

The consent order (FDIC-23-0086b) required Choice Financial to improve board oversight of its BSA/AML program, establish an AML/CFT compliance committee, revise and strengthen the overall AML/CFT program, overhaul its internal controls system, implement an adequate customer identification program, improve customer due diligence procedures, and revise suspicious activity monitoring and reporting practices. The order specifically required a lookback review covering all customers and transaction activity for customers onboarded through third-party relationships — a review that would assess whether required CIP information had been obtained and whether suspicious activity had been properly identified and reported.

The enforcement action was part of the broader wave of FDIC scrutiny of BaaS community banks, following similar consent orders against Piermont Bank, Sutton Bank, and Thread Bank in 2024. Choice Financial was notable for its role as banking infrastructure for better-known fintech brands, making the compliance gaps particularly visible to the broader fintech industry.

Primary Source: FDIC/NDFI Consent Order FDIC-23-0086b — Choice Financial Group (December 18, 2023)