​Happy Friday!!!
 
You can subscribe here for free to have the Uncle Sean Update and FinTech Cowboys interviews delivered straight to your inbox every week!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/11/24:
 

• Okay – I know this has been covered in great detail all week, so I will try to be brief…  ICYMI, TD Bank was hit with $3.1B in penalties and restricted asset growth over AML issues.  This has been expected for some time and TD had already set aside previous provisions of $3.05B. 
  • As part of the settlement, total assets of TD’s two US banking subsidiaries (TD Bank, NA and TD Bank USA, NA) cannot exceed a combined US$434B in assets.  A pretty big pain point since TD Bank has been growing rapidly in the US and is now the 10th largest bank domestically.  OUCH!!!!
    • Recall where Wells Fargo has been operating under an asset cap since 2018 and may finally get out of it next year…. Maybe… 😬
  • 👉 If you haven’t already, I 💯 recommend following Sarah Beth Felix on LinkedIn (she is the absolute BOMB 💥 in all things AML – and a super awesome person too!).  She has a great write-up of the OCC and FinCEN order for TD Bank – an incredibly valuable learning resource.
    • Shameless plug warning 😊…  Speaking of…  The legendary Sarah Beth Felix will be at The FedFis Roundup conference on our Night 1 Banker Panel open discussion??? 🤠 Always free for bankers - sign up here.  See ya there!!!!!

 

• 👀 And another CU acquisition of a bank this week breaking the record that we broke last week.  HAPO Community Credit Union (Charter 68239; Total Assets $2.4B) to acquire Community First Bank (FDIC 34627; Total Assets $632M).
  • Keeping score – the new record of announced CU acquisitions of a bank is now at 18 so far for 2024 compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (source: FedFis).

 

• On the economic front, the BLS Sept CPI Report shows inflation still coming down albeit ever so slightly but displaying some stickiness in Core…  CPI came in at 2.4% YoY (Aug was 2.5% and expectation was 2.3%) and 0.2% for September (Aug was 0.2% and expectation was 0.1%).  Core CPI rose 0.3% for the month and ticked up slightly to 3.3% YoY.  CNBC has a good summary.

 

• 👍 Good news – the CSBS is reporting that the third quarter 2024 Community Bank Sentiment Index (CBSI) moved up 11 points to 110.  This is the first time it has surpassed the neutral level of 100 since the fourth quarter of 2021, despite continued concerns about regulatory burden.
  • Yessir - a proper yield curve sure goes a long way in making bankers happy! 🤓🤑

 

• Shout out to Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113; Total Assets $836M) announcing a definitive agreement to acquire Auto Club Trust, FSB (FDIC 35115; Total Assets $484M).  This is the banks first acquisition since being established in May 2019; and one that makes sense as an expansion of Grasshopper’s embedded finance strategy to “6 million households and strengthens the lender’s position in digital banking through commercial, small business, and consumer product offerings digitally under the AAA brand” per this Banking Dive article.  Congrats! 🚀

 

• A couple of NCR Atleos wins this week:
  • CoreFirst Bank & Trust (FDIC 18100; Total Assets $1.2B) has joined the Allpoint Network of ATM’s operated by NCR Atleos.
  • NuMark Credit Union (Charter 61447; Total Assets $778M) has selected Atleos’ ATM as a Service (ATMaaS) and ITM as a Service (ITMaaS) to modernize its branch network.

 

• FinTech Automation announced the launch of their new innovative card issuance platform called ChargeIt™ designed to enable banks, neo-banks, and credit unions to issue tailored card programs for corporate brands.

 

• Plaid announced the launch of Pay by Bank for Bill Pay to help businesses capitalize on the opportunity of Pay-by-Bank recurring payments solution by providing consumers with a more seamless, cost-effective and secure way to pay bills, and to help businesses benefit from lower processing costs and fewer returns for all types of recurring payments.

 

• Venmo introduced the ability to schedule on-time or recurring payments or requests to schedule one-time or recurring P2P payments monthly, weekly, or bi-weekly in advance.

 

• Lakeside Bank (FDIC 19573; Total Assets $2.6B) selects Volante Technologies Payments-as-a-Service (PaaS) platform to enhance the banks SWIFT cross-border, RTP® real-time, and FedNow® instant payments “marking a significant advancement in Lakeside’s ability to offer best-in-class real-time treasury services to its customers.”

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Privacy Lock (data privacy and compliance solutions for FI’s) closed its Seed Round.
  • Mercury (business banking app) raised $100M credit warehouse facility to develop its credit card program.
  • Imprint (modern co-branded credit card platform) raised $75M in Series C round at a $600M valuation.
  • Zeal (modern payroll platform) raised $15M in Series B funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Agility Robotics shows off its "RoboFab" facility in Oregon where it plans to mass produce its first line of humanoid robots, called Digit.  Looking forward into the future, the goal is to have robots eventually building themselves….  Dude – I’m just happy it doesn’t look like the Terminator (uh, no red eyes please)…  Yet!!! 😲🤖
  • Speaking of…  Did you see Tesla's Robotaxi event this week?  More specifically the Optimus Robot or the Robovan???
    • I mean seriously…  Has anyone even seen the movie I, Robot???  LMAO!!!! 🤣
• 🏈 Last weekend was a crazy weekend in college football with 4 of the top 11 teams being upset by unranked teams.  The most impressive underdog victory was Vanderbilt taking down #1 Alabama 40-35.  Joining the list of upsets were #4 Tennessee (lost to unranked Arkansas), # 10 Michigan (lost to unranked Washington), and #11 USC (lost to unranked Minnesota).
  • Next up this Saturday is OU versus Texas in the Red River Rivalry where Texas is heavily favored, but anything can happen in this game!
• Okay – on to the good stuff…  The Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • I don’t mind getting older, but my body is having an absolute hissy fit over it! 🙄
  • My grandmother made it to 100 yesterday – and that’s the last time I get in the car with her when she’s late for bingo!!! 😲🙃
  • Do railroad workers have to be trained…??? 🚂😏
  • The dentist told Aunt Patty she needed a crown…  She was like, I know – right!!! 👑😂

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

Happy Friday!!!
 
The fallout from Hurricane Helene continues to be devastating – particularly to our friends in Eastern Tennessee / North Carolina state lines.  Here are a few places you can help if you choose - RedCross - Hurricane Helene and Salvation Army Hurricane Helene Relief; and this site from Good Morning America - Hurricane Helene - how to help has several more including some local organizations. ❤️🙏  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/4/24:

• The headline story this week is we set a new record of Credit Unions acquiring banks 😲…  This week it is OneAZ Credit Union (Charter 61315; total assets $3.3B) to acquire 1st Bank Yuma (FDIC 57298; total assets $624M).
  • Keeping score – the new record of announced CU acquisitions of a bank is now at 17 so far for 2024 compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (source: FedFis).  I suspect we could see at least a few more prior to year-end.

• 👀 Check out Fiserv as they take a BIG link out of the payments supply chain with their newly approved special banking charter from the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance.  Per the article, Fiserv will now have direct access to card networks, and will no longer need to partner with banks to process card transactions.  Essentially allows Fiserv to own the transaction end-to-end enabling them to authorize, settle, and clear payments for merchants.
  • To be clear, this is a merchant acquirer limited purpose bank charter (MALPB) and not a full-fledged bank charter. 👍

• On the economic front…  The BLS Sept Jobs Report came in smoking hot 🔥 with 254,000 jobs added (+150,000 expected, +159,000 prior revised up from an initial +142,000, and July was also revised up to +144,000 from +114,000) and an unemployment rate of 4.1% (4.2% expected, 4.2% previously).  CNBC has a good summary.
  • On the revisions – keep in mind that the Jobs Report is always revised for two months following the initial estimates as more data becomes available.  If you want to geek out even more (like me 🤓), check out the 2024 BLS Revision History.

• There was a mega-merger announced in the CU space with Digital Federal Credit Union (Charter 23521; total assets $12B) and First Tech Federal Credit Union (Charter 19976; total assets $16.7B) to combine through a merger of equals with the combined organization operating under DCU’s charter and the First Tech Federal Credit Union name.  The newly combined entity will create a $28.7B credit union which would place them as the 6th largest CU in the Nation just behind Boeing Employees with $29.6B in total assets (source: FedFis).

• ICYMI - the OCC issued a bulletin this week providing guidance for managing credit risk associated with Refinance Risk for Commercial Loans.

• Jack Henry (Nasdaq: JKHY) and Victor offer embedded payments platform for FI’s to better support business customers (Victor is a division of MVB Bank).
  • Per the article, “Financial institutions on Jack Henry's SilverLake core can now leverage Victor's embedded payments platform, allowing corporate clients, software companies, and fintechs to seamlessly embed payments capabilities through a single API. The core integration allows for transaction-level, near real-time reconciliation, safeguarding the financial institution from clients spending funds they have not yet reconciled.”

• CSI announced their Mid-Year 1H2025 Fiscal Review with 18 new core deals and a 27% increase in its Hawthorn River customer base.  Nice work!!! 💪

• Zum Rails announced an expanded partnership with Fiserv as the primary transaction processor for Zūm Rails’ payments gateway enabling US businesses to facilitate accounts payable and receivable transactions, merchant onboarding, reporting, reconciliation and fraud management without relying on a bank or other third-party provider.  Combining Zum Rails’ payments gateway with the Fiserv payment facilitator model gives businesses a way to move money through every major U.S. payment network, among them Visa and Mastercard, the Automated Clearing House (ACH), FedNow, WEB Debit and PayPal.
  • “As companies look for new ways to own and strengthen their relationships with customers, there’s growing energy around embedding financial services directly within a software platform,” said Sunil Sachdev, Head of Embedded Finance, Fiserv. “By making capabilities from our merchant acceptance, banking, and card issuing businesses available to clients and partners through a curated set of APIs, we are helping these clients expand their service models, build deeper relationships with merchants, and significantly expanding the revenue potential associated with each relationship.”

• Our friends at FinGoal have linked up with Tyfone to provide community financial institutions on Tyfone’s digital banking services to deliver ultra-personalized financial insights to account holders.  Uncle Sean is not as smart (and not nearly as cool) as David Nohe and Jared Kopelman, but this sure smells like a great fit; and certainly a win for community FI’s! 🤘

• 💥 Congratulations are certainly in order as ZSuite Technologies continues their seemingly unstoppable march across the US! 🚀  This week Fulton Bank, N.A. (FDIC 7551; Total Assets $31.6B) announced the launch of Fulton Deposit Escrow Management.

• Prelim and IntraFi have partnered together to simplify reciprocal deposit account onboarding.  Very important as regulatory bodies continue their emphasis on liquidity and uninsured deposit exposures. 😊

• Orlando CU (Charter 68706) is launching a new direct bank platform appropriately named Digital Branch beginning Oct 31, 2024.  I couldn’t find much more detail on this, but Uncle Sean will be following the launch closely.    

• Ocean Bank (FDIC 24156; Total Assets $6.4B) joins NCR Atleos’ Allpoint Network which currently supports over 40,000 surcharge-free ATMs throughout the US.

• Lumin Digital and Rego Payment Architectures, Inc. announced a strategic partnership to offer Rego’s white-label family banking solution to banks and credit unions using Lumin’s digital platform.

• NCR Voyix (NYSE: VYX) has completed the previously announced sale of its digital banking unit and will be rebranded as Candescent.

• Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) announced an agreement to sell its credit card portfolio to Continental Finance.
  • Recall earlier this year (announced in Feb and closed in May) where Continental Finance also acquired the Today Card portfolio from Elevate Credit and Capital Community Bank.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• This looks pretty cool – Field & Stream brand has launched a new lodging / hospitality platform with a hunting and fishing lodge vibe equipped with modern conveniences targeting U.S. markets rich in natural experiences such as national parks, mountains, and ski towns.  Check out their first lodge located in Bozeman, MT.  I want to go!!!
• Okay – I may have to get one of these for nostalgia sake 🍔…  Wendy’s is releasing a "Krabby Patty Kollab" cheeseburger and a “Pineapple Under the Sea” flavored Frosty in honor of SpongeBob SquarePants 25th anniversary…  Parents everywhere can relate - all of our kids enjoyed SpongeBob but our oldest son, Marshall, was completely and utterly addicted to SpongeBob when it first came out.  I still remember the song all too well as it is seared into my memory from hearing it at least 1,000,000 times – LOL… ❤️🤠
  • 🎶 “Are you ready, kids?  Aye, aye Captain!  I can’t hear you!  AYE, AYE, CAPTAIN!!!  Ohhhhhhhh….  Who lives in a Pineapple under the sea?  SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS!!!  Absorbent and yellow and porous is he!  SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS!!!!  If nautical nonsense be something you wish.  SPONGEBOB SQUARE PANTS!!!  Then drop on the deck and flop like a fish!!!” 🎵 🤣  Play it again, Dad!!! ❤️
• And of course I have some Dad / Bad jokes and Uncle Sean wisdom (or lack thereof) to share:
  • The police just left…  Apparently if I’m going to walk around the house naked, I have to do it inside…  😮🤣
    • Speaking of nakedness…  How do nudists clean their glasses??? 🤔
  • The years have been good to me… It’s the weekends that have done the damage!!! 🤪
  • I really like oysters, but I have to wonder about the first person to ever open one and immediately think, “Mmhmmm, this pile of snot looks delicious!”  Don’t even get me started on the first person to eat a chicken egg after seeing where it came from…  And pretty sure the person who first discovered milk had some serious explaining to do… 😬😂

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend – don’t forget to go outside and play; and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.

​Happy Friday!!!
 
It’s the first official week of Fall - the temps here in Texas are finally starting to come down and feel more like football weather (at least in the mornings anyway)!!! 🏈🍂  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/27/24:
 

• 🙏 Keeping our friends in FL, GA, and surrounding areas in our thoughts and prayers as Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane bringing significant flooding, widespread power outages, and wind damage to the area.  Hang tough and stay safe!

 

• Pathward, N.A.  (FDIC 30776; Total Assets $7.5B) is renaming its BaaS business line to "Partner Solutions" highlighting Pathward’s dedication to partnership and collaboration on solutions with partners.
  • The bank is taking a step further with a renewed emphasis on their core differentiators such as experience, operational excellence, and mature risk / compliance infrastructure. Very cool marketing strategy; and one I suspect we will see more of from Sponsor Banks that are doing BaaS / embedded finance well.  I love it!!! 😎👍

 

• 👀 And another CU acquisition of a bank…  This week we have ESL Federal Credit Union (Charter 24563; Total Assets $9.3B) to acquire Generations Bank (FDIC 16040; Total Assets $401M) for $26.2M.
  • Keeping score…  This ties the record from 2022 with 16 announced acquisition of a bank by a credit union thus far in 2024 (compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019) – source: FedFis.

 

• DailyPay crosses the pond with their first international expansion into the United Kingdom.  Congrats! 🎉

 

• PNC Bank (FDIC 6384; Total Assets $553B) enters into data access agreement with Plaid to allow PNC customers to “securely connect and share financial data to their chosen financial applications through Plaid” applications.

 

• BankNewport (FDIC 18129; Total Asset $2.8B) is live on the nCino platform utilizing Commercial Lending, Marine Lending, Deposit Account Opening, and Portfolio Analytics; and is reporting up to 90% accelerated digital account opening process in some cases – just three weeks post-implementation.  Nice!!! 🚀

 

• No doubt in response to successful fintech innovation, Bank of America to launch family banking solution being developed internally.  Banking Dive has a good summary.

 

• Cross River Bank to power Forward's embedded payments solution to SaaS providers.

 

• iWallet announced that it is the first company to enable Zelle® invoicing for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) via iWallet’s “patent-pending P2B (person-to-business) notification system that allows SMEs to send and track invoices efficiently, thereby saving them time and money.”

 

• MANTL announces Business Deposit Origination for credit unions – yes, streamlined business NAO at credit unions.  Check it out at www.mantl.com/business-deposit-origination-cu/.

 

• Nasdaq Verafin announces enhancements to its AI based Targeted Typology Analytics to help banks continue to enhance their AML/CFT strategies.  Definitely a hot topic these days!!! 😉

 

• Visa to acquire Featurespace real-time AI-based fraud and financial crime prevention platform serving the financial services industry.

 

• Galileo launches Secured Credit with Dynamic Funding allowing banks, fintechs, and other businesses to target underbanked consumers with secured credit offerings managed through a single “available to spend” balance in a single account via automated movement of funds between debit and credit accounts.  

 

• Found selects Marqeta to power their existing business debit card that is focused on SMB’s and self-employed professionals. 

 

• Swaystack (onboarding and engagement platform) announced integration with Q2 Digital Banking Platform.

 

• Rumor Mill:
  • 👀 Bloomberg is reporting that Chime has hired Morgan Stanley to lead its proposed (no official confirmation) IPO…  PYMNTS has a good summary article.

 

• A few personnel moves:
  • Marqeta announced Fouzi Husaini as Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer.
  • Thread Bank picks up Michael Farrell as Chief Financial Officer.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Mesa (homeowner membership platform) emerged from stealth this week with $9.2M in Capital consisting of $7.2M Seed Round and $2M in venture debt.  Mesa’s first products are the Mesa Mortgage Marketplace (origination rewards) and the Mesa Homeowners Card visa open-loop credit card.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• So we have a lot of bugs here in East Texas…  I mean A LOT OF BUGS!!!  Consequently, we have quite a few toads and frogs that visit our house every night.  One little toad fellow in particular has been hanging around for several months now.  You might ask, how can you tell one toad frog from the next???  Well, let’s just say this little fella is unique in the fact that he is only about half grown and might have an eating disorder as he is the fattest little toad I think I have ever seen - I mean he is an absolute chunky-chunk!!!  In fact, he doesn’t even hop – he just waddles out of the way. 🤣  Aunt Patty and I affectionately refer to him as “Fat Boy” and he hangs out on our porch almost every night.  It has become a nightly ritual before bedtime for us to check outside to see if Fat Boy is there; and he almost never disappoints. 🐸😊
• And here they are…  Some Dad / Bad Jokes to wrap up the week:
  • I’m not “old” per se…  But there are days where I feel like I’m aging like a fine banana! 😅
  • Technically speaking….  A “butt load” of underwear is exactly one pair… 🙄😁
  • If a word was misspelled in the dictionary, how would we know??? 🤷‍♂️🤔
  • Shout out to Bruce Lee.  A man who studied art, philosophy, and poetry and decided the most beautiful form of self-expression is to punch someone in the face! 😮😂🤣
  • I gave Aunt Patty an apple and she told me she preferred pears…  So I gave her another apple…  🤠
    • Not really a Dad Joke, but more of some Dad wisdom…  As the saying goes - sometimes in the middle of nowhere is where you find the center of everything… 😊❤️

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend, go outside and play, and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/20/24:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  For the first time in 4 years (beginning of the pandemic), the FOMC voted to cut rates by 50 basis points (I admit it – I was expecting 25) bringing the federal funds rate down to 4.75% - 5.00%.  Here is some more detail if you want to dig deeper:
  • Chairman Powell’s Press Conference Transcript (25 pages) and video (approximately 50 minutes)
  • The FOMC Summary of Economic Projections (“Dot Plot” for us more ‘seasoned’ folks – LOL)

 

• 👀 This most certainly caught my attention this week…  The FDIC published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) on recordkeeping requirements for Custodial Accounts (here’s looking at you transactional #FBO) specifically referencing the Synapse bankruptcy, pass-through insurance, and end user confusion.  The NPR specifies (among other things):
  • Standardized electronic file format for custodial account reconciliations to support pass-through insurance (defined end user ownership and amounts)
  • Daily reconciliations of transactional custodial accounts
  • If third-party ledger, the IDI (bank) would be required to have direct, continuous, and unrestricted access to the records of the beneficial owners, including, but not limited to, in the event of the business interruption, insolvency, or bankruptcy of the third party.  A periodic audit / verification of the third party’s records.
  • Annual certification of compliance signed by an executive officer of the IDI.
    • 🤔 It is very interesting to me that this NPR is being issued prior to reaching the end of the comment period of the Joint Agency RFI - Request for Information on Bank-Fintech Arrangements Involving Banking Products and Services Distributed to Consumers and Businesses, which the comment period was extended to 10/30/2024 versus 9/30/2024 just last Friday….

 

• Meanwhile, the ugliness continues in the Evolve Bank & Trust / Synapse saga 💩…  This week Yotta has sued its bank partner, Evolve Bank & Trust, for allegedly stealing and misappropriating customer funds 😮.  The article also provides a direct link to the court document that goes on to cite “theft” and “grotesque misconduct” claiming that Evolve knew about missing funds well before Synapse’s bankruptcy and covered it up.  The court order cites the following Cause of Action against Evolve:
  • Fraud, Conspiracy to Commit Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, Negligent Interference with Contract, Negligence, Violation of California’s Unfair Competition Law, and Restitution Based on Quasi-contract / Unjust Enrichment.

 

• Five Star Bank (FDIC 659, Total Assets $6.1B) announced their intent to begin an orderly wind down of its BaaS offerings citing “…evolving regulatory expectations and a proposed rule regarding the re-classification of BaaS deposits as brokered, in addition to the future investments in talent and technology necessary to achieve scale…”
  • The bank is preliminarily targeting completion of the wind down of its BaaS business sometime in 2025.  As of June 30, 2024 their BaaS operations totaled about $108 million of deposits, representing about 2% of total deposits, and $31 million of loans, representing less than 1% of total loans for the bank.

 

• 💥 CSI continues to strengthen their core offerings by announcing their acquisition of Velocity Solutions.  This follows CSI’s acquisition of Hawthorne River loan origination platform back in December 2023. 
  • And they may not be done with their acquisitive hunt as David Culbertson, President and CEO of CSI, states in the PR, “We’re eager to identify more opportunities to evolve the differentiated financial software and technology solutions that make CSI the first choice for community and regional financial institutions nationwide.”

 

• Walmart is beefing up their pay-by-bank offering next year to real-time processing by partnering with Fiserv NOW network that is connected with TCH RTP and FedNow.

 

• DailyPay (EWA platform) has launched Credit Health, a free financial wellness tool integrated within the DailyPay app to help users stay informed about their credit status and financial position.
  • Personally, I am very happy to see this as I have long felt that some form of credit counseling / financial education aspect needs to be tied to EWA offerings.  Nice job DailyPay!!! 😊

 

• 💪 Congratulations to the ZSuite Team with their milestone announcement of achieving 100 bank partners across 28 states!!!! 🎉🤠

 

• High-five to Finli as they announce successful completion of SOC 2 Type II audit.  Great work!!! 🤘

 

• Brex announced the launch of Brex Embedded, an API-driven payments solution for B2B software vendors to embed Brex virtual cards.

 

• Oracle (specifically the Oracle Financial Services division) announced the launch of Oracle Financial Crime and Compliance (FCCM) Management Monitor Cloud Service to help banks, FinTechs, and other financial services companies to “gain a holistic, centralized view of their FCCM efforts, enabling them to identify potential issues faster and, proactively manage risk to thwart criminal activity and reduce compliance costs.”

 

• Equifax partners with Prism Data for consumer cash flow underwriting via Prism’s CashScore® platform.  Strategically positioning Equifax to take advantage of the upcoming 1033 Open Banking rule.

 

• Old Second National Bank (FDIC 3603; Total Assets $5.7B) selects Newgen Software's digital account opening solution to simplify online onboarding of both retail and business customers.

 

• Meow (business-focused neobank) launches Meow Financing powered by Lendio’s Embedded Lending solution for small business working capital solutions.

 

• Lumin Digital keeps making headlines (they are on a roll 🚀) – this week, Consumers Credit Union (Charter 68588; Total Assets $3.5B) selects Lumin Digital for new digital banking solution.

 

• Finastra announced an integration with Prelim allowing for more streamlined digital account opening for retail and commercial accounts for FI’s on the Finastra Phoenix core solution.

 

• Rumor mill…. 🤷‍♂️
  • Many grumblings this week that JPMorgan may be in advanced talks with Apple to take over the credit card issuance from Goldman Sachs.
  • Bloomberg (citing unnamed sources) reported that Vista Equity Partners may be looking to spin off and sell Finastra’s Treasury and Capital Markets (TCM) unit for upwards of $2B.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • ClassBank (edtech company integrating real-world financial skills into K-12 classrooms nationwide) raised $1M in Pre-Seed and grant funding.  Very cool concept; and everyone knows that Uncle Sean loves K-12 financial literacy programs ❤️ – check them out at classbank.com.
  • Wealth.com (end-to-end estate planning platform built specifically for FI’s) raised $30M in Series A funding round.
  • AtoB (payment solutions for transportation industry) raised $130M in Capital consisting of a combined Series C and debt funding.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• I have to admit I am a little freaked out that we are almost kicking off 4Q2024…  And to compound that, we are only 96 days away from Christmas!!! 🎄🎅 It just feels weird saying that while we still have 98+ degree temps here in Texas! 🥵
• You can stop scrolling now 😊 - here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • Happy to report that my house doesn’t have any unhealthy snacks in it…  Because I ate them all is of no consequence (mind ya own business!)… 🤠
  • I just melted an ice cube with my mind by staring at it…  It took a lot longer than I thought…
  • Eyelashes are supposed to prevent things from going into your eyes, but whenever I have something in my eye it’s almost always an eyelash…  It’s eyeronic.. 🙄
  • Feeling a crunch in a non-crunchy food is one of the single most terrifying experiences a human can face while eating! 😧🤢

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend, go outside and play, and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 
 

Happy Friday the 13th 😧🐈‍⬛!!!
 
Whew – quite a bit of market research this week so we are going to go at it in rapid fire fashion!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/13/24:

• 👀 ICYMI….  The OCC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC are holding a joint Ask The Regulators webinar regarding bank-fintech arrangements on Tuesday, 9/24 at 2PM EDT.  
  • The webinar will include a Q&A session. Participants must submit questions in advance via email at [email protected]. Panelists will give priority to questions received by Tuesday, Sept. 17.
    • Might be a good one to sit in on for directional clarity…  Uncle Sean will be there listening intently…

• In a bit of a reprieve related to bank-fintech arrangements…  The OCC, Federal Reserve, and FDIC have extend comment period on request for information on bank-fintech arrangements from Sept 30, 2024 to Oct 30, 2024.

• Setting the stage for our first anticipated rate cut at next week’s FOMC meeting, August CPI headlined at 2.5% YoY slightly below estimate of 2.6% (last month actual was 2.9%); and monthly came in at 0.2% in line with expectations.  Core CPI held at 3.2% (same as last month and in line with expectations) with the monthly read at 0.3% which was slightly higher than estimates of 0.2%.
  • CNBC has a good summary as always.

• Full disclosure – Uncle Sean loves this!!! ❤️  Privacy Lock and DCI have teamed up to offer privacy solutions and open banking compliance to banks across the nation.  1033 Open Banking is coming with compliance and data privacy protection being center stage for FI’s – It’s good to see these companies out front protecting the consumer.  Love it!!!!

• Congratulations to equipifi (BNPL platform for FI’s) for successfully completing their SOC 2 Type 2 audit – nice job!!! 😊🎉

• Embedded finance for the win…  Walmart Marketplace and Parafin team up to provide sellers with working capital through the Walmart Marketplace Capital program for eligible sellers using Parafin’s embedded finance infrastructure platform.  A little bit of digging shows that the business loans are provided by Celtic Bank (but if you subscribe to FedFis FinTech Analytics©, you already knew that – nice plug, right???  LOL!).

• 💥 ZSuite Tech broadens their reach via their announced integration with Jack Henry digital banking platform Banno to provide “a seamless banking experience, and real-time origination of transactions” for JKHY banks.

• Rapid Finance also branches out by announcing their integration with Q2's Digital Banking Platform to provide small business lending solutions, including small business loans, sales-based financing, and business lines of credit.

• Bankwell Financial Group (Nasdaq: BWFG; Bank subsidiary is Bankwell Bank, FDIC 57368, Total Assets $3.1B) selects Lendio's Intelligent Lending platform to provide instant SBA 7(a) loan offers to business loan applicants; as well as Lendio’s digital loan application for non-SBA applicants.

• Galileo continues to push into new ways to fight fraud with the launch of Instant Account Verification (GIVE) and Transaction Risk GScore.

• Mastercard drops some serious coin $$$ this week and boosts their threat intelligence capabilities by acquiring Recorded Future cybersecurity firm for $2.65B.
  • As my friend Robin is fond of saying, “pretty soon that’s gonna add up to some real money!”

• Mercury (business banking platform) makes their first acquisition by acquiring Teal, an infrastructure dev platform for building SMB accounting applications.  Mercury also started offering working capital loans built for ecommerce.

• Regent Bank (FDIC 4160; Total Assets $1.6B) launched a new direct digital bank called Believe Bank.  Believe Bank combines high-yield savings with philanthropy by donating 1% APY of your average balance on a quarterly basis to a nonprofit charity of your choice.

• Alibaba.com partners with Mastercard to Alibaba.com Business Edge Credit Card, a co-branded US credit card powered by Cardless and issued by First Electronic Bank.

• Imprint is making headlines again as Eddie Bauer shifts from private label to co-branded open loop credit card with the new Eddie Bauer World Mastercard powered by Imprint and issued by First Electronic Bank.

• Money, money, money 🤑…  Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) announced they have raised their minimum hourly wage to $24 on their way to $25 per hour by 2025 as part of a campaign that began in 2017.

• MoneyLion (NYSE: ML) announced they have partnered with Nova Credit to activate cash flow underwriting within MoneyLion’s hosted decisioning engine via Nova Credit’s Cash Atlas™ platform.

• Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union (Charter 24362; Total Assets $4.2B) has selected Lumin Digital to enhance and streamline online and mobile banking for the CU.  Nice win for Lumin!

• And of course the news that everyone saw, Wells Fargo hit with new AML Consent Order.  😲

• Some Personnel moves:
  • R&T Deposit Solutions names Kim Liao as Head of Regulatory Affairs.
  • Grasshopper Bank names several key hires to their Digital Banking Team including: Rob Burnett as Director of Startup Banking, Vince Peterson as VP of Embedded Finance, Nate Gruendemann as Product Manager, and Vince Magpayo as SMB/SBA Digital Loan Specialist.
  • Freddie Mac names Diana Reid as CEO.
  • Nium adds some new players in the C-Suite with Andre Mancl as CFO and Phillip Doyle as CCO.
  • ComplyAdvantage (financial crime intelligence platform) hired Paul Kizakevich as CRO.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Illuma Labs (voice authentication and fraud prevention technology for FI’s) raised $9M in Series A $9M in Series A funding round.
  • Versana (loan syndication platform) raised $26M in capital.
  • Finally (AI-powered bookkeeping including a corporate card) raised $200M in capital consisting of $50M Series B and a $150M credit line.
  • Every (small business bookkeeping, payroll, treasury, and banking platform) raised $22.5M in Series A round.
  • Push Cash (A2A / Pay-by-Bank platform) raised $4M in Seed round funding.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Running late this week so I’m just gonna skip to the good stuff…  Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • I work out almost every day….  For instance, I almost worked out on Tuesday, almost on Wednesday, and almost on Thursday too! 😅
  • Confucius says, “everyone who gets glasses looks better…” 🥸
  • When I get in an elevator with a stranger, I try to hold their hand to make them feel they’re safe with me…  LOL!!! 🤐😂
  • The older I get, the earlier it gets late… 🤷‍♂️
  • Parenting tip….  If your kid asks for a napkin, it’s already too late! 🙄

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.

​Happy Friday!!!
 
For the love of everything that is holy – NO, I do not need the attendee list for Money 20/20 so please quit spamming me 5 times per day LOL!!!  Ah, the joy of conference season. 😂  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/6/24:
 

• 👀 Keep an eye on this (developing) as it could have massive implications to the BaaS / Embedded Finance FBO model… 
  • Evan Weinberger published an article in Bloomberg Law stating the FDIC (in response to the Synapse bankruptcy meltdown) is “expected to release a proposed rule requiring banks to maintain ledgers of ‘for benefit of’ accounts opened by third-party fintechs so the banks can identify how much end-user money they’re holding… Banks would still be able to partner with middleman companies such as Synapse but would be required to have constant access to the third-party ledger and reconcile data each day under the proposal…” 
    • Bloomberg Law source article: FDIC Eyeing Plan to Protect Customers From Fintech Failures
      • My take (not that anyone asked – LOL) is that it appears the regulators are going to eventually demand on-core ledgering even if via sidecar model from regulated legacy core processors which effectively kills the unregulated middleware model entirely.  The bank must own the ledger.

 

• And of course some macroeconomic news to kick off the weekend with the BLS August Jobs Report showing 142K jobs added (estimate was 161K) with coming in at 4.2% as expected (July was 4.3%).
  • Noting that June Jobs report was again revised down by another 61K to 118K (was originally 206K – so a 43% miss from initial estimate 🙄); and July was revised down by 25K to 89K. 
    • Not great, but not a terrible overall report although the significantly material continued downward revisions (source - BLS Revisions 2024) remain a concern.  CNBC has pretty good summary.

 

• The FDIC released their Quarterly Banking Profile report for 2Q2024 as well as the accompanying Remarks by FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg.  I’ll admit – nothing really surprised me (especially if you follow the FedFis Inside the Numbers quarterly webinar) and the results for the industry are pretty strong, all things considered.  But I will highlight the following:
  • The number of banks on the FDIC’s “Problem Bank List” (defined as having a composite CAMELS rating of 4 or 5) increased from 63 in 1Q2024 to 66 in 2Q2024 representing 1.5% of all banks which is certainly within the normal range of 1 – 2 percent during non-crisis periods.
    • Warning – here comes the shameless plug (LOL - 🤠)…  For comparison, the FedFis Rating© for 2Q2024 is showing 70 banks in the bottom 1% of all FI’s with a rating of 3.85 or worse based on call report data (Source: FedFis Bank Rating).

 

• Jack Henry (Nasdaq: JKHY) partners with Moov to enable financial institutions to offer enhanced digital payment services to SMB customers.

 

• MidWestOne Bank (FDIC 14843; Total Assets $6.6B) has completed implementation and is now live with Temenos Digital Onboarding for retail depository products.

 

• 💥 Congrats to Rory O'Reilly and the entire Knot Team for a big win this week as American Express and Knot team up to simplify the process of adding payment information at select merchants.  Powered by Knot’s CardSwitcher product, this product allows eligible Amex customers to easily update their payment info at top merchants like Bloomingdale's, Hilton, and Macy's.  Nice work!  👍

 

• HawaiiUSA FCU (charter 1815; Total Assets $2.5B) selects Velera for debit card processing in addition to the already existing relationship with Velera for CC processing.
  • Yessir - Here comes another plug 😊!!!  Wanna know who was displaced as the prior Debit Processor for HawaiiUSA FCU…???  Give Bobby Button a call and ask him about our FI vendor tech stack (the FinTegration Ecosystem©) for every bank and credit union in the US.

 

• 👀 Things were interesting and BUSY in the world of M&A this week (WHEW):
  • Banyan Software announced the acquisition of Automated Systems, Inc. (ASI) core processor with over a dozen additional modules.  Banyan also announced the formation of the Financial Institutions Group where ASI will be joined by Loan Vision in order to foster collaboration while operating independently.
  • Ingo Payments has acquired Deposits Inc. to accelerate “the launch of its Modern Money Stack, which will enable banks, fintechs and brands to transform money flows into full, feature-rich accounts that foster new relationships, revenue streams, and utility, delivered in a modern, modular, compliant and cost-efficient way.”
  • Paylocity (Nasdaq: PCTY) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Airbase for approximately $325M.
  • Ncontracts has acquired Venminder (a unified platform for managing third-party risk related to the entire vendor lifecycle) via a buyout from HG.  As part of a simultaneous transaction, Hg has bought out prior Ncontracts shareholder Gryphon Investors, as well as prior Venminder shareholders.

 

• And even more M&A going on in the Bank space this week:
  • We had another CU acquisition of a bank…  REV FCU (charter 9986; Total Assets $1.135B) to acquire First Neighborhood Bank (FDIC 6800; Total Assets $149M).
    • If you are keeping score, this is now the 15th announced acquisition of a bank by a credit union thus far in 2024 compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (source: FedFis).  With over three months left in 2024, we may indeed set a new record.
  • ICYMI - in an even rarer transaction, we have a bank attempting to acquire a CU 🤯…  The Pittsfield Co-operative Bank (FDIC 26393; Total Assets $378M) is attempting to acquire Arrha Credit Union (Charter 61189; Total Assets $148M ) with the NCUA currently reviewing the application.
    • This deal has been rumored for awhile now with a legal ad soliciting CU member feedback posted in early July; and Arrha’s board approving the deal on July 30.  I believe the NCUA approval is needed before the CU members can vote on the merger – so not necessarily an announced deal with a definitive agreement just yet (please let me know if I am dead wrong on this)…
  • ConnectOne Bancorp (Nasdaq: CNOB) to acquire The First of Long Island Corporation.  Check out the CNOB Investor Deck related to the merger (note the 0.74x P/TBV – Oof!!! 😲 Some significant FV write-down going on)
  • Builtwell Bancorp in TN to acquire Bradley County Financial also in TN.
  • Mutual Federal Bancorp to acquire Pulaski Savings Bank.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Flex (HSA and FSA payment infrastructure) raised $3.2M Seed Round.
  • Oyster (payroll platform for distributed workforces) raised $59M in Series D funding round.
  • Drip Capital (cross-border trade finance) raised $113M in capital consisting of $23M in equity and $90M in debt financing.
  • Thatch (personalized health benefits platform for businesses and employees incl Visa Debit Card) picks up $38M in Series A round – WOW, that’s a nice sized A-round!
  • Sedric (AI-powered communications monitoring of employees at FIs for compliance enhancement) raised $18.5M in Series A funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Cooler temps have finally arrived!!!  Rumor has it that we may see lows in the upper 50’s by the end of the weekend here in East Texas – oh yeah!!!
• Also – recall last week where I mentioned that Aunt Patty’s parents were coming to visit and we were probably going to make a trip to Shreveport for some gambling action (her Mom and Dad love those slot machines)….  Well, I must report that no casino’s went bankrupt, or were even hurt at all, during our visit….  In fact, I’m sure they can’t wait for us to come back very soon…  Ugh!!! 😬😆
• And of course some obligatory Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • Ah, the IRONY in spelling…  Hyphenated….  Non-hyphenated… 🤔
  • Sleeping 12 hours a day can reduce your chance of doing something stupid by 50%. 😅
  • My goal was to lose 10 lbs this year…  Only 15 more to go! 🫤
  • Little known fact, but…  T-shirt is actually short for “Tyrannosaurus Shirt”…  Because of the short arms…  🦖🤣😂

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Happy Labor Day Weekend!!!! 🤠  It was a fairly light week in the banking and fintech market research space (thankfully – LOL), so let’s jump right in so we can get the long weekend started.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/30/24:
 

• The BEA July PCE (the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation) report came in very benign and largely as expected at 2.5% over last year and 0.2% over June.  Core PCE came in at 2.6% over last year and 0.2% for the month. 
  • For reference - PCE inflation, month-over-month, July (+0.2% expected, +0.1% previously); PCE inflation, year-over-year, July (+2.6% expected, +2.5% previously); "Core" PCE, month-over-month, July (+0.2% expected, +0.2% previously); "Core" PCE, year-over-year, July (+2.7% expected; +2.6% previously).
  • Next up on the data front is the August Jobs Report from the BLS on next Friday, Sept 6th at 7:30 AM CDT.

 

• Shout out to Q2 (NYSE: QTWO) as they celebrate 20 year anniversary of innovation in the banking industry. 👏 Keep up the good work!!! 😊

 

• Narmi announced it is now live with FedNow® service in receive mode with Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113; Total Assets $836M) as the first step in Grasshopper’s instant payments strategy.  Per the PR:
  • Narmi’s seamless integration with FIS’s IBS core via Code Connect platform enabled Grasshopper Bank’s efficient FedNow Service implementation.
  • “Through the FedNow Service, Grasshopper is positioned to provide its On-Core financial technology (fintech) clients with the option to receive payments in real-time, offering enhanced cash flow management, immediate access to funds, and improved operational efficiency. The ability to receive instant payments is particularly crucial for fintechs and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that depend on timely transactions to sustain and grow their operations.”  Nice! 😎

 

• WebBank (FDIC 34404; Total Assets $2.2B) to be the exclusive bank partner for Sezzle BNPL, subscription products, and card products.
  • WebBank is a known powerhouse in the Sponsor Bank arena focusing on the credit / asset side of embedded finance (including cards).  Some key customers include Klarna, Zip, and PayPal among many others.  For more detail – contact Bobby Button in relation to the FedFis FinTech Analytics© database (nice plug if I do say so myself - LOL 😊).

 

• PayPal (Nasdaq: PYPL) expands its global partnership with Fiserv by simplifying how Fiserv (NYSE: FI) “clients enable PayPal, Venmo and related services, and provides these businesses with a simple connection point to Fastlane by PayPal to accelerate guest checkout flows in the U.S.”

 

• Synctera teams up with Marqeta to offer the Synctera Fleet Card for the freight and logistics industries.

 

• Surety Bank (FDIC 33026; Total Assets $206M) selects Apiture for Online and Mobile digital banking upgrade.

 

• CPI Card Group announced a partnership with Rippleshot to provide its AI/ML-based fraud prevention services to CPI customers.

 

• 👀 Interesting to me…  Orlando Credit Union (Charter 68706; Total Assets $358M) launches new merchant services via Fort Point Payments, Inc. ” to help businesses streamline their payment processes and support growth with advanced payment solutions.”
  • Seeing more and more CUs leaning into business / commercial banking services (and my opinion is that this is a large driver for CUs acquiring banks).  Recall a few weeks back where more CU announcements regarding commercial and non-traditional operations:
    • 8/13/24 - Forum Credit Union (Charter 68248; Total Assets $2.1B) selects Apiture Business Banking Solution to deliver online and mobile banking to its commercial members. 
    • 8/14/24 - North Bay Credit Union (Charter 63373; Total Assets $121M) selects Sharetec’s web-based core, Sharetec Velocity for its innovation and Open API platform – presumably for BaaS / embedded finance.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • Socure promotes Matt Thompson to Chief Revenue Officer (CRO).
  • Taktile hires Jason Mikula as Head of Industry Strategy for Banking & Fintech.  Selfishly, I hope Jason Mikula is still able to commit sufficient time to his Fintech Business Weekly newsletter!!! 😊
  • Payouts Network appoints Jeffery D. Johnson as Chief Revenue Officer.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Linker Finance (digital banking platform focused on community FI’s) raised $3.7M Seed Round.
  • PrivacyHawk (consumer data protection) $3M in new capital while officially passing “1 million users just 2 years after launching.”
  • Comun (neo immigrant banking app) raised $21.5M in Series A funding round just nine months after their $4.5M raise.
  • Parafin (lending side infrastructure solution for embedded finance) closed a $93M debt facility with potential to increase to $187M.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Have you seen BLAND.AI (check out the video demo) – voice AI for automated calling operations (can accommodate both outbound and inbound)?  Not sure if I am incredibly impressed, terrified, or all of the above!!!
• Aunt Patty’s Mom and Dad are coming over for the weekend – rumor has it that we may head over to Shreveport for the day on Saturday for some gambling and shenanigans!  Sure hope I don’t have to get a second job when I get back – LOL!!!! 😊
• Okay – let’s crank out some Dad / Bad Jokes so we can get the Holiday Weekend started early:
  • Rolling out of bed is easy…. Getting up off of the floor is another story! 😬
  • Dogs are not allowed in bars because they can’t control their licker… 🐶😂
  • I run like the winded….  😅
  • Not saying I’m old, but “pulling an all-nighter” now means I didn’t have to wake up to go pee.
    • Ah but Confucius says, “it is better to wake up and pee than pee and then wake up…” 🙏

 
 
Have a GREAT Labor Day Holiday weekend and please stay safe!!! ❤️
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Don’t forget to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update and the FinTech Cowboys interviews delivered straight to your inbox every week!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/23/24:
 

• I’m not going to lie one bit – my favorite headline of the week goes to two outstanding firms partnering together to the benefit of community banks…  High-five’s all around to the great folks at DCI and RiskScout as they partner together to launch a robust and comprehensive BSA/AML solution with customizable monitoring capabilities 💥 and real-time communication as a more cost effective solution (❤️) for community banks nationwide. 🎉🙌🚀

 

• Jerome Powell’s speech at Jackson Hole today was largely in line with expectations.  A notable (and expected) shift in sentiment from “will they cut rates” to “when and how much will the rate cuts be.”  And of course the statement that you will likely see over and over from all media outlets - “The time has come for policy to adjust. The direction of travel is clear, and the timing and pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.”  😎

 

• Late last Friday, U.S. Eagle FCU (Charter 808; Total Assets $1.5B) to acquire Southwest Capital Bank (FDIC 12258; Total Assets $475M).  Apparently there is a cannabis banking play here as US Eagle has a cannabis banking arm (Aery Group is a division of US Eagle) and Southwest Capital Bank is known to offer cannabis banking solutions. 
  • Keeping score – this is now the 14th announced acquisition of a bank by a credit union thus far in 2024 compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (Source: FedFis)

 

• Paychex (Nasdaq: PAYX) jumps into the fintech / embedded finance space with the launch of Paychex Flex® Perks, a digital employee benefits marketplace, with 17 unique products including “early access to earned wages, financial wellness solutions, and voluntary lifestyle benefits for the employees of Paychex customers.”  Also included is:
  • Paychex Pay, an online account established by Central Bank of Kansas City with a Mastercard Debit Card and Savings Account.
  • EWA powered by Payactiv.
  • Financial Wellness platform powered by FinFit.

 

• Agent IQ announced a partnership with the Bank of Utah (FDIC 17159; Total Assets $3.3B) to launch a new chat solution powered by Agent IQ’s Lynq™ digital engagement platform.  “A key aspect of the partnership with Agent IQ was the seamless integration with Bank of Utah’s Q2 online banking platform for mobile and browser access, as well as the bank’s MANTL account opening tool.”

 

• Stop! Collaborate & listen! (🕺🎵 - LOL)…  Although competitors, Adyen and PayPal continue to collaborate with Adyen to offer Fastlane by PayPal in the US to accelerate online checkout with plans to expand this offering globally in the future.
  • Not only will Adyen customers be able to continue leveraging PayPal’s best-in-class consumer wallets (PayPal, Venmo, BNPL), they can now also access our new Fastlane by PayPal service to accelerate guest checkout flows for their enterprise and marketplace customers in the U.S.  This partnership brings Adyen’s payments infrastructure together with PayPal’s ability to drive accelerated checkout flows for more than 400 million shoppers globally.

 

• Trimont shoots to #1 as the largest US CRE servicer (was previously #10) after Wells Fargo sells most of its CRE loan servicing portfolio (non-agency) to Trimont.  Terms were not disclosed, but Trimont CEO Bill Sexton said his firm would take over servicing for roughly $475 billion worth of loans. That will triple Trimont’s loans under management to over $715 billion.

 

• U.S. Bank (FDIC 6548; Total Assets $665B) was busy this week with some strategic announcements:
  • U.S. Bank acquires healthcare payments platform Salucro Healthcare Solutions who was a partner of Elavon, the merchant acquiring unit within U.S. Bank.  Salucro team members are now employees of U.S. Bank and will integrate into Elavon, allowing the banks Elavon unit to dig deeper into healthcare payments and billing services.
  • U.S. Bank partners with Edward Jones to offer deposit and credit card products to Edward Jones’ U.S. clients beginning in 2025.  “U.S. Bank has had an Edward Jones card-issuing relationship through its Elan division since 2012.”
    • Banking Dive has a good article reminding us that last year, Citi had launched a partnership with Edward Jones for checking and savings services, but Citi disbanded the program within months during its reorg.

 

• Finio (digital lending infrastructure platform) announced a partnership with FreedomRoad Financial (FRF1) to integrate FRF1’s loan origination process with Fino’s digital lending infrastructure platform giving FRF1 “instant access to credit applications submitted by customers and dealers through various online channels.”
  • FreedomRoad Financial is a motorcycle and powersports financing leader and a direct digital bank as a division of Evergreen Bank Group (FDIC 35230; Total Assets $1.5B).

 

• 👀 Other legal / regulatory developments this week:
  • Remember back in April when the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a rule banning noncompete agreements???  Well, not so fast my friend (in my best Lee Corso voice)!!!  A federal judge in Texas (Judge Ada Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas) has thrown out the government's ban on noncompete agreements on the basis that the FTC does not have the authority to do so.  "The FTC lacks substantive rulemaking authority with respect to unfair methods of competition," she wrote. "The role of an administrative agency is to do as told by Congress, not to do what the agency think[s] it should do.” 😬
    • The FTC is considering an appeal.
  • A group of 11 industry trade groups called for an additional 60 day extension to comment on the FDIC’s recently proposed tightening of Brokered Deposits rule impacting everything from fintech sourced deposits to internet deposits and deposit sweep networks; and the resulting effect on bank liquidity. 
    • But for now, the clock is ticking as the Brokered Deposit Notice of Proposed Rulemaking officially hit the Federal Register today with comments due by 10/22/24. ⌛
  • And here you go….  The CFPB website for their Nonbank Registry (NBR) is up and includes a Filing Instructions Guide as well as Key Dates / Implementation Submission periods.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Lettuce Financial (tax and accounting platform for solopreneurs) raised $15M in Series A funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• More foodie stuff…  Uncle Sean absolutely LOVES Hatch Chile Peppers🌶️!  Not just the taste, but the embedded offering into so many other products (Hatch Chile Pepper cheese, Hatch tamales, Hatch sausage, etc.) – I love it all!!!  But mostly, it’s the season that I associate with increased happiness and excitement.  Hatch peppers are only available a few months ever year (think McRib – LOL) and begin to hit the grocery stores in late August as they ripen.  In Texas, this is also the beginning of the end of the summer heat (cooler days ahead); the beginning of football; the beginning of Dove Season; and the gateway to fall.  It’s almost like a breath of fresh air or a new beginning after surviving the brutally hot Texas summer – with ample amounts of gatherings of family, friends, and food ahead.  What’s not to love?!?!
  • So you can imagine my excitement when I ran across this article in Food & Wine called What Makes Hatch Chiles So Special – along with some nice recipes.  Some cool points:
    • Hatch chiles come from the Hatch Valley in southern New Mexico, which stretches along the Rio Grande river from Arrey to Rincon. A former floodplain, the Hatch Valley’s nutrient-rich soil and fluctuating temperatures are considered ideal for growing perfect peppers.
    • Developed in the 20th century, horticulturist Fabián García and his students (at what is now New Mexico State University in Las Cruces) used the plants to develop modern New Mexico chiles, featuring a more consistent size and tamer heat.
    • The chiles are planted in April and harvested starting in August through the first frost, usually in November.
• 🏈 This Saturday at 11AM CDT, #10 ranked Florida State takes on Georgia Tech in the college football season’s kickoff game from Dublin. FSU is coming off a 13-1 season that saw it “controversially” left out of last season’s College Football Playoff, but embarrassingly crushed in the Dec 2023 Orange Bowl with a 63-3 “butt-whoopin” by #6 Georgia due to more than two dozen FSU players opting out or transferring…  We’ll see if FSU looks to make statement in the season opener or not...  ESPN College GameDay will be there too beginning at 8AM CDT.
• Oh yeah – here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • Whoever said money can’t buy happiness clearly hasn’t been bonded out of jail before! 😲😂
  • In the spirit of the Paris Olympics….  What do you call a nervous Javelin thrower…?  Shakespear…. 🙄
  • What did the horse say when he fell over?  “Help, I’ve fallen and I can’t giddyup!!!” 🐎🤠
  • What do you get when you cross the Atlantic with the Titanic…???  About halfway… 😧

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

Happy Friday!!!
 
Remember last week when the stock market completely threw up – yeah, me neither! 🤷‍♂️🤠  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/16/24:
 

• Cracking the 3% psychological barrier - 👍 July CPI came in pretty much as expected with headline YoY at 2.9% (estimate was 3.0%; last month was 3.0%) which is the smallest 12-month increase since March 2021.  The monthly read came in at 0.2% exactly matching expectations.  Core CPI was 3.2% (also the lowest reading in three years) versus 3.3% in June. 
  • CNBC has a good summary emphasizing that shelter overweight increases are still a drag (and a lagging drag due to their slow pace of change) on CPI.  Excluding shelter, CPI only rose 1.7%.
    • Looking ahead on the calendar…  Next week brings the Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium from August 22-24.  The week after that brings Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE is the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation) on August 30th.  Then comes the monthly jobs report and unemployment summary on September 6.  And then we wrap up “rate cut watch 2024” (LOL) with the next FOMC meeting on September 17-18 which will include Summary of Economic Projections (SEP – “dot plot” for us old folks).
      • Oh yeah – don’t forget that Labor Day is in there somewhere too! 😊

 

• 👀 FIS (NYCE: FIS) teams up with Neural Payments to simplify peer-to-peer (P2P) payments via a white-labeled open-loop solution allowing for seamless P2P transactions (regardless of whether the recipient’s institution utilizes Neural Payments and without the need to download a third-party app or register a new card) embedded within the institutions mobile banking app.
  • An Uncle Sean fist-bump 👊 to the Neural Payments Team – well done!!!

 

• Mastercard debuts enhancements to its Open Banking for Lending program powered by employment / income verifier Argyle (credentialed payroll service); making it easier for financial institutions to digitally verify an applicant’s income and employment via user permissions. 

 

• Klarna (BNPL) announced everyday spending and saving features launching in 12 countries across Europe and the US.
  • Klarna balance allows consumers to store money in a Klarna ‘account’, adding money directly from their bank account, receiving cashback rewards for shopping in the Klarna app, or receiving refunds from returned items.
  • Cashback rewards consumers who shop in the Klarna app. Shoppers earn a percentage of purchases at participating retailers, and the money is stored in their Klarna ‘balance’ account.
    • However, per this Banking Dive article, it looks like the Klarna Account will not be FDIC insured (similar to Venmo) – at least not at first.  Really more designed as “a vehicle for consumers to receive cashback and get their refunds faster” and not anticipating US customers to hold large amounts.

 

• Zip (BNPL) announces partnership with Stripe in the US where eligible merchants can easily enable Zip as a payment method with a single click at checkout (point-of-sale credit).

 

• More BNPL as Affirm (Nasdaq: AFRM) expands its partnership with Tekmetric (automotive repair shop management solution with payments powered by Stripe Connect) to bring flexible payment options at checkout to the thousands of auto repair shops that use Tekmetric’s platform.

 

• LendingPoint partners with FairPlay to utilize FairPlay’s Fairness-as-a-Service solution to enhance LendingPoint’s algorithmic qualification and automated funding decisions.

 

• Finzly announced an agreement with Corpay (NYSE: CPAY) to collaborate on a joint offering that brings together Finzly’s FX payment platform and Corpay’s real-time FX rates for financial institutions and their business clients.

 

• Pibank (direct digital bank solution for Intercredit Bank) launches in the US with a high-yield savings account sporting 5.5% - WOWZA! 😲
  • This is an interesting structure as Pibank already operates as a direct bank in Spain and Columbia via Banco Pichincha Holding Group.  Dr. Fidel Egas Grijalva is the majority owner of Banco Pichincha Holding Group; and he purchased (as an individual) Intercredit Bank (FDIC 25258) in 2020 per the Intercredit website; “Intercredit Bank is not part of the Banco Pichincha Holding Group and is separately managed and regulated.”
    • Thinking out loud here (“over-thinking” actually – LOL)…  I could be dead wrong, but since Pibank already exists internationally – It looks like Intercredit Bank simply purchased the brand rights to operate Pibank in the US….  My weird brain keeps thinking of this as the first example of a franchised direct digital bank specific to the US.  Very interesting! 😊

 

• Modern Treasury flexes this week by announced it has expanded instant payments support for mutual customers of six leading banks - Bank of America, Cross River, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Financial Services, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

 

• Centime (holistic cash management platform for SMB’s) introduced a new AP solution that pays you to automate your business AP process by providing a high-yield account currently at 4.25% APY.  The press release states that on average, clients earn enough to cover the cost of automation and more.  Cha-Ching!!!

 

• All kinds of M&A going on this week:
  • Experian acquires behavioral analytics platform NeuroID.
  • Chang in Control – KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) announced an agreement where The Bank of Nova Scotia will make a strategic minority investment in KeyCorp of approximately $2.8B representing 14.9% pro forma common stock ownership (upon approval by the Federal Reserve).
  • UFS to acquire Safe Systems.  “UFS’ acquisition of Safe Systems is a game-changer for community banks across the country,” said Dave Mayo, Founder of Bankers Helping Bankers and CEO and Founder of FedFis. “This is a strategic move that will both elevate and broaden the quality of solutions and services available. Talk about perfect timing, this enables Bankers to better serve their customers. By combining their expertise and resources, these two companies are positioned to deliver unmatched support to the industry.” 
    • Hey – I know that guy!!!! 🤠
  • Ceto acquires VPCtech strengthening their position in the area of Fiserv/DNA platform transformations.
  • 👀 And lastly – another CU acquiring a bank.  This week it is Spokane Teacher’s Credit Union (Charter 68203; Total Assets $5.9B) announced an agreement to acquire Community Bank (FDIC 17445; Total Assets $549M) in Joseph, OR.
    • If you are keeping score, the count is now up to 13 announced acquisitions of a bank by a credit union thus far in 2024 compared to 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (source: FedFis).

 

• A couple of more CU headlines:
  • Forum Credit Union (Charter 68248; Total Assets $2.1B) selects Apiture Business Banking Solution to deliver online and mobile banking to its commercial members.  
    • Somewhat unique to see a CU highlight a specific digital business banking solution.
  • North Bay Credit Union (Charter 63373; Total Assets $121M) selects Sharetec’s web-based core, Sharetec Velocity for its innovation and Open API platform.

 

• Tally (cc debt refinancing) is unfortunately shutting down.  Tough blow – Despite raising more than $172M (most recent $80M Series D was in Oct 2022) with a peak valuation of $855M and 183 employees, they were not able to secure further funding to continue operations.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • Robinhood announced Jeff Pinner as Chief Technology Officer.
  • LendingPoint names Shawn Stone as Chief Executive Officer.
  • Plinqit promotes Kirsten Longnecker to Chief Marketing Officer.

 

• FinTech funding for the week:
  • PayZen (healthcare financing) raised $232M in Capital consisting of $32M in Series B plus a new $200M credit warehouse.
  • Setpoint (infrastructure for the credit industry) raised $31B in Series B funding round.
  • Amount (small business digital loan origination and decisioning platform for banks and CUs) raised $30M in Equity Capital.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Well, 💩…  Odds are your personal data has probably been leaked according to this Los Angeles Times article stating the hacking group USDoD claimed in April to have stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, which offers personal information to employers, private investigators, staffing agencies and others doing background checks.  The breach, which includes Social Security numbers and other sensitive data, could power a raft of identity theft, fraud and other crimes, said Teresa Murray, consumer watchdog director for the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.
• Okay – on to more happy news!!!  🏈 It’s here – College Football is here (almost anyway)!!!!! 😀  Take a peak at the AP Top 25 that has Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, and Alabama rounding up the top 5 with some wild matchups as season openers including:
  • #1 Georgia vs #14 Clemson on 8/31
  • #7 Notre Dame vs #20 Texas A&M on 8/31
  • #13 LSU vs #23 USC on 9/1
• And of course some Dad / Bad Jokes to kick off the weekend right:
  • Do people who run marathons know they don’t have to??? 🏃‍♂️
  • I graduated first in my class…  The fact that I was homeschooled is not important. 👨‍🎓🙃
  • The thing about having a teenager in the house is…  Hey – what happened to all of our silverware and bowls??? 🤔
  • I asked Aunt Patty how they make Holy Water…  She said you just boil the hell out of it… 😬😂

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

Happy Friday!!!
 
Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/9/24:
 
Uncle Sean typically tries to emphasize happy stories and headlines, but this week I unfortunately kick off with a bit of an “off the rails” rant.  It gives me no pleasure, so please excuse my bluntness…
 

• Unit (BaaS Platform provider) sets up new embedded finance partnerships with Vantage Bank and Lincoln Savings Bank…  I confess that I do not know precisely what services are being delivered to those banks, but the Unit Blog related to Lincoln Savings Bank as well as the Blog related to Vantage Bank still sounds like the same old BaaS Middleware model (an off-core ledger and FBO structure to the IDI) with Vantage Bank describing it as an “embedded finance accelerator”…
  • In some of my research, I did find that Novel (an international business banking app) was originally under Blue Ridge Bank but transitioned to Five Star Bank per this Novel Business Deposit Account Agreement as of January 2024.  Worth noting that Unit is a third-party service provider and Program Partner to the Five Star account as noted on page 5.  The current CEO of Lincoln Savings Bank came from Five Star Bank which is where the Unit connection (pardon the pun) for LSB may have started.
    • Worth noting that Novel may have recently shut down rather abruptly as the website trynovel.com is giving a 404 error; and some pretty awful recent reviews on Trustpilot within the last 30 days or so…  Not really the best look…
  • Compliance….  Credit Jason Mikula and this Fintech Business Weekly post regarding Unit back in March questioning Unit’s “shift” to a direct type model.  I do see that Unit has recently been trying to reposition themselves as a more compliance-first based model, but a quick look at some current and past Unit customers show compliance has definitely been an issue per these public consent orders, including:
    • Blue Ridge Bank OCC Enforcement Action 2022 (I reference as the O.G Agreement that started it all) citing unsafe or unsound practices, including those relating to third-party risk management, BSA/AML, suspicious activity reporting, and information technology control and risk governance.
    • Choice Bank FDIC Consent Order 2023 citing BSA, AML, CFT, and third-party relationships
    • Piermont Bank 2024 Consent Order citing BSA, AML, CFT, and Third-Party Relationships
    • Thread Bank 2024 Consent Order citing AML/CFT – and getting very specific here as I think this is the first time the FDIC has used the actual terminology “Banking-as-a-Service” as a standalone section (separate from the traditional AML and third-party risk verbiage) in the consent order (bottom of page 6 if you download the order)…  Also reference Section 14.l (page 7) which instructs the bank to “develop and maintain an exit plan” for its FinTech relationships (something that The BaaS Association has been preaching for many years).
  • Financial Condition…  Unit raised $100M in Series C just 2 years ago in May 2022; and this follows a $51M Series B a year before that in June 2021 (bringing total equity raise to nearly $170M per this TechCrunch article).  However, in June 2024 they had to lay off 15% of their staff per their blog.
    • While I do not have direct visibility to the Unit financial statements, I can generally state that most of the time entities are not continuing to raise equity capital (dilution) if they are cash flow positive and profitable (excluding M&A strategy).  Which brings me to my next and last point:
      • Oct 2023 Joint Regulatory Guidance (FDIC, OCC, Fed Reserve) for Conducting Due Diligence on Financial Technology Companies, specifically pg 6, Financial Condition and pg 8, Legal and Regulatory Compliance.
  • Feel free to comment on my LinkedIn post (FedFis page - Uncle Sean Update) or you can email me direct at [email protected].

 
Okay, back to better things! 🤠

• Wow – what a weird week in bond and equity market reactions to relatively small pieces of economic data estimates / misses since last Friday 🤷‍♂️.  Hang on to your hat though, as we have July CPI data coming up next week on 8/14/24 😬; as well as the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on 8/22 /24– 8/24/24.  So, what is Uncle Sean looking at these days???  Well, I’m glad you asked so I can completely geek out!!!! 🤓🤪
  • Driving the domestic macroeconomic picture recently is downward pressures (albeit somewhat slight) from the labor side include unemployment inching up and job growth slowing (covered this last week); in conjunction with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York 2Q Quarterly Report in Household Debt and Credit released this week showing consistent growth in household debt with the delinquency trajectory continuing to increase, but more of a “normalization” (2019 pre-pandemic was at 20+ yr lows).  Happy to see these FRB NY graphics going back to 2003 to reflect that performance trend. 😊  Hopefully delinquencies and jobs data begins to level off here but I am certainly watching this trend closely.
  • Also keep in mind that it is hard to look at Household Debt without looking at Household Net Worth (Z1 data) which has increased 248% over the same 21 year period of 1Q2003 – 1Q2024 (source: Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis FRED) reminding us that all things are relative.
    • 👀 And hey – here’s some more good news in the data – As of the 8/8 reporting week, the national average for 30-yr mortgage rate fell to 6.47% (Source: Freddie Mac).  That is the lowest rate since the 5/18/23 reporting week. Recall that was the beginning of the rise to almost 8% in Oct 2023 (I know first-hand because Aunt Patty and I had to take a huge 3-2-1 rate buy down when I sold my house in Nov 2023 – ouch, LOL)…
      • Mortgage rates are typically tied to the 10 Year Treasury that went from 3.46% to 4.92% in that same May 2023 – Oct 2023 time period.  This morning, the 10Yr is trading at about 3.95%...
      • Also worth noting the 2Yr/10Yr Spread is -0.08% this morning which is ridiculously close to un-inverting (is that an actual word) and is in some of the tightest trading ranges since we inverted 25 months ago back in early July 2022 with no recession yet (yet being the operative word!).
        • Of course no one asked 😝, but here is my take -  we should probably expect to see more “mixed data results” going forward as this is likely the best scenario for the coveted soft landing.  Fingers still crossed! 🤞

 

• 💥 REDi announced an integration with Q2's Digital Banking Platform allowing community banks and credit unions to access REDi’s fraud tools (customer notification and card control) via Q2's Digital Banking Platform.  Nice work!!!!!

 

• More good news with good folks doing great things…  Check out Atomic making headlines again with some really big wins lately.  This week, Texans Credit Union (Charter 60806; Total Assets $2.2B) announced the launch of Atomic's direct deposit switching solution in partnership with Alkami Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALKT) digital banking solution. 🚀

 

• Conversely in a bit of sad news, Native American focused Totem is set to close down.  Uncle Sean has no doubt that we have not heard the last of Amber Buker, J.D., and I applaud her efforts in bringing much needed attention to improving financial wellness and banking access to Native Americans nationwide. 🙏

 

• It’s no big secret that the big banks have been investigated by various regulatory bodies and government officials regarding Zelle P2P scams and customer complaints (Cash App and Venmo included in some of these probes as well)…  However, JPMorgan kicked things up a notch this week by stating they may sue the CFPB if the agency issues an enforcement action against the bank over abuse of Zelle transfers by scammers.
  • “The CFPB is fully aware we already go above and beyond what the law requires, reimbursing for all unauthorized transactions and even for certain types of scams, so they should expect to be challenged to ensure their actions stay within the bounds of the law,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told Reuters and American Banker on Friday. “If necessary, we will not hesitate to seek assistance from courts to uphold the integrity of how these services are provided.”  The CFPB declined to comment.

 

• Marqeta (Nasdaq: MQ) announced a five-year deal with Varo Bank (FDIC 59190; Total Assets $480M) to be their exclusive issuer processor in the US.

 

• NCR’s digital banking business, named NCR Voyix (NYSE: VYX) after the company spun off the digital banking (Voyix) and ATM business (Atleos) as separate companies late in 2023, sold to Veritas Capital for $2.45B in cash plus additional contingent consideration of up to $100M.  Deal is expected to close (pending regulatory approvals) by year end.

 

• Speaking of NCR (the ATM side this time)…  Chime has expanded its relationship with NCR Atleos (NYSE: NATL).  Chime currently uses ATMs within Atleos’ Allpoint Network at more than 50,000 fee-free ATM’s.  This expanded agreement, beginning in August, will begin branding Atleos ATMs at 4,000 Walgreens stores with the award-winning Chime brand across the country.

 

• BMG Money has partnered with WebBank to launch LoansAtWork, a flexible employment-based loan option for consumers irrespective of their credit scores with repayments automatically deducted from their wages.

 

• Finzly logs a big win by announcing a partnership with United Community (NASDAQ: UCBI; FDIC16889; Total Assets $27B) to provide Finzly’s FX platform enhancing United’s international banking capabilities for its commercial clients.

 

• The CFPB takes action against Credit Repair Cloud AND its CEO, Daniel A. Rosen (so much for the corporate veil) “for providing substantial assistance or support to credit repair businesses that charge illegal advance fees to consumers. The proposed order, if entered by the court, would impose a $2 million civil penalty against Rosen and a $1 million civil penalty against Credit Repair Cloud.”  Yikes!!!!

 

• Some Personnel moves this week:
  • R&T Deposit Solutions strengthens C-Suite with Michelle Barone Named Chief Revenue Officer and Joe Carroll Named Chief Operating Officer.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Savvy Wealth (AI-powered wealth management platform for financial advisors) raised $15.5M in Series A extension bringing the total Series A to $26.5M.
  • Octane (financing in the powersports market including a digital dealer platform) raised $50M in Series E funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• One of the funnier comments I read this week:  “After coasting for months, the stock market is looking as queasy as a triathlete after swimming in the Seine.” 🤢😂
• Shoutout to my friends at Longview ISD celebrating Educators, Paraprofessionals, Administrative professionals, and the entire support staff (but especially Payroll – “Whoop Whoop”, Business Office Operations, and Human Resources because Uncle Sean is biased 😊) as Longview ISD wraps up Convocation to kick off the school year!!!! ❤️👨‍🎓🙏  Go Lobo’s!!!! 🐺
• Foodie update….  I grilled Lamb Loin Chops this week for the first time ever and those tiny little t-bone looking portions were AMAZING!!!!  Super quick (about 4 minutes each side for medium rare – flip only once) and pretty affordable.  I think I paid just north of $7 for about 1.25 pounds (about 6 little t-bones).  Here is the recipe that I used:
  • Your base is 1/3 cup Avocado Oil (substitute Olive Oil if you like) with 1/2 cup Balsamic Vinegar and 1 TBSP Rosemary Garlic.
  • I also added 1 TBSP Ground Ginger, 1 TBSP Minced Garlic, 1 tsp Uncle Chris steak seasoning, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper.
    • Set aside about 4 – 6 TBSP of this marinade for basting after you flip them on the grill.  Marinate the loin chops in the fridge for about 3-4 hours before cooking.
    • After cooking, I wrapped mine up in some foil and let them rest for about 5 minutes before absolutely devouring them like a starving caveman!  Nom, nom, nom… 😊
• Yep…  You made it!  Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • Uncle Sean is on the Snake Diet…  That’s where you lay around all day, eat 25% of your body weight, and hiss at anyone that comes near you! 🐍🤪
  • A lot of spouses complain that their husbands never listen to them….  I’m proud to say I’ve never heard  Aunt Patty say that… 😯😂
  • That one time I asked Mom if I was ugly and she said “I told you not to call me Mom when we are in public!” 🤣
  • You’ve heard that saying that if you love something, let it go.  If it comes back to you it is yours, if not then it never was….  Well, just FYI – that doesn’t work very well with money!

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at [email protected] | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | [email protected] #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.