The promise of delivering Americans low-cost and attractive banking services using an efficient, state-of-the-art tech stack has been an alluring one since the dawn of fintech. Beautiful front ends have been hampered by the need to partner with banks to actually do the banking, hurting their economics and limiting their ability to fully innovate. Varo Money began the same way in 2017. When it became the first fintech to obtain a bank charter in August 2020, a door to a new model opened, one unconstrained by partnership limitations. While Varo's journey is in its early stages, early indications from its more than 3.1 million customers are promising.