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Since this article is 9 years old, I was curious about follow-up. Checked LinkedIn and looks like this guy is still with the firm he was with in 2009:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-wagner-60a65b116/

So I guess you...can't open a bank?

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In fairness to him, the OCC (the national banking regulator in the US) has had a practical moratorium on new national bank licenses for most of the past 10 years. You can get a new state bank charter, but not a national one. I can't blame him for not wanting to start a bank in the US lately.

Can you expand on why one wouldn't want to start with a state bank?

The problem is not the start with a state license, but expanding to a federal license.

I was mostly being snarky -- totally agree: starting a bank is insanely complex & difficult, and it's not getting any easier. Kudos for even trying. No blame from here either.

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