Part of it is that both regulators and competitors simply don’t want many more bank licenses in the US. So they won’t make the issue process easy even though a

Part of it is that both regulators and competitors simply don’t want many more bank licenses in the US. So they won’t make the issue process easy even though analysis and background check capabilities have improved so significantly. An analogy might be the old taxi medallion regulation in New York that had limiting the number of taxis as a goal in addition to qualifying cab owners and drivers. It’s a frustrating situation because an organization unworthy of a license like FTX can just buy one anywhere in the country, but a worthy organization working locally can’t start a new bank, because they’d likely have to buy one too far away. Anyone who believes there should be more small banks is just out of luck.