Welcome to the Tech Meme Ride Home for Thursday, March 19th, 2020. I'm Brian McCullough.

Today, Square wants to become a bank. Microsoft Teams might be rocketing ahead of slack in terms of user

numbers.

The EU wants streaming companies to cut back on HD streams. COVID might be depressing streaming

music and some analysis of the iPad becoming a regular old computer.

Here's what you missed today in the world of tech.

We spoke some months ago about every company becoming a FinTech company soon, but also about

FinTech companies becoming traditional banks.

Well, Square says it has received conditional FDIC

approval to operate a bank, which

will be known as Square Financial Services,

and which will provide small business loans as soon as it

launches in 2021. Quoting Silicon Angle. Square was granted an industrial loan

company license, a form of de novo banking license that the

FDIC provides to newly chartered banks that are bound by supervision standards.

In addition to gaining conditional approval from the FDIC, Square has also received charter approval from the Utah Department of Financial Institutions.

Square Financial Services is headquartered in Salt Lake City.

The FDIC approval gives square FDIC insurance, meaning that

depositor funds are insured up to $250,000. It's a safeguard for depositors in

knowing that if something goes wrong with a given bank

their funds are covered up to the $250,000 limit. Nonetheless the move may prove

controversial. Reuters reported that the decision is likely to attract criticism from consumer advocates, bank officials, and Democratic lawmakers who claim that the special license is a loophole which poses risks to the banking system and consumers end quote.

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