​Happy Friday!!!
 
 
Holy smokes, it’s December already!!! 😲  That means three more weeks before I have to begin Christmas shopping – LOL!!! 🎅🏻🎄🦌  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 12/1/23:
 

• The Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta released the November Beige Book.  The punchline is that overall, economic activity has slowed with four Districts reporting modest growth, two indicating conditions were flat to slightly down, and six noting slight declines in activity.

 

• The FDIC released the Quarterly Banking Profile for 3Q2023.  Some key takeaways:
  • Net Income decreased for the quarter by $2.4B driven by lower non-interest income (down $4.1B) and increased realized losses on securities (up $3B) as banks rebalance securities portfolios.  Aside from favorable non-recurring gains related to the acquisition of the three large bank failures, net income has basically been flat at $68B for the last 4 quarters.
  • Loans increased 0.4% (driven by CC and mortgage) while Deposits declined 0.5% (marking six consecutive quarters of deposit declines).  However, NIM eked out a gain of 3 bps to 3.30%.
  • Unrealized losses on securities are now at $683.9B an increase of 22.5% over prior quarter as we saw significant movements in treasury yields/rates.  Unrealized losses on HTM was $390.5B and AFS was $293.5B.
  • Asset Quality remains favorable (still better than pre-pandemic), although showing modest deterioration worth keeping an eye on.
  • The number of banks on the FDIC’s “Problem Bank List” increased by one from the previous quarter to 44.
    • For reference, FedFis is tracking 68 banks representing the bottom 1% of all banks with a FedFis Rating of 3.75 or worse (scale is 1.00 good – 5.00 bad). 🦬

 

• The CFPB hit Toyota Motor Credit with $60M enforcement action for illegal lending and credit reporting misconduct.  Oof!!! 😬

 

• The FDIC OIG published their Material Loss Review of First Republic Bank.  Spoiler Alert – much like the reviews of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, capital was not to blame for the First Republic Bank failure.  There are a host of recommendations in the report (11 to be exact), but the ultimate cause of the bank failure was a run on bank deposits.
  • From the Executive Summary - “First Republic’s failure was caused by contagion effects stemming from the failure of other prominent financial institutions, which led to a run on deposits, significantly reducing its liquidity and exposing vulnerabilities in First Republic’s business strategy.”
  • Additionally, the report makes specific mention of uninsured deposits – “The FDIC assessed First Republic Bank’s uninsured deposits consistent with FDIC policies, but the magnitude and velocity of uninsured deposit outflows warrants the FDIC’s re-evaluation of assumptions and guidance pertaining to uninsured deposits…”
    • Uncle Sean’s two cents:  This has been an extremely common theme with the large bank failures this year.  In the absence of any meaningful deposit insurance reform, it sure looks to me like the future is bright for deposit sweep programs that provide enhanced FDIC insurance coverage such as R&T Insured Deposits (RTID®).  And it’s only going to get more intense as we move towards a real-time / instant payments world. 

 

• Apparently the feeling is mutual…  It was reported by The Wall Street Journal that Apple has sent a proposal to Goldman Sachs to end its credit card partnership with GS within the next 12 – 15 months.  The proposal allegedly includes all of the consumer partnership including the savings account and Apple Pay Later (BNPL).

 

• COCC announced CNB Bank (FDIC 13876; $5.7B Total Assets) has chosen to partner with COCC’s Security Operations Center (SOC) and use its real-time Continuous Security Monitoring (CSM) service to strengthen their organization’s cybersecurity posture. 
  • Hugely important as cyberattacks are unfortunately becoming more and more prevalent on a daily basis (just Google search “cyberattack” and the current news feed will make your jaw drop).  😲

 

• Cable announced the launch of Transaction Assurance providing financial crime compliance and 100% transaction testing “ensuring every transaction is not only monitored but also rigorously tested for any regulatory breaches or control failures, thereby eliminating the limitations of manual dip sampling.”

 

• 👀 Socure launched Control Center specifically to help sponsor banks fight fraud, assess risk and meet compliance requirements for their fintech partners.  You can learn more about their fully automated BaaS management platform for sponsor banks at socure.com/products/control-center.

 

• Ahhh – a rare IRS reprieve…  The IRS announced a delay in 1099-K reporting threshold for third party platform payments (Venmo, PayPal, etc.).  CNBC has a good summary for 1099-K tax reporting:
  • For 2023, the old limit of more than 200 transactions worth an aggregate above $20,000 will remain in place
  • For 2024, the agency will phase in the lower threshold by adding a $5,000 limit (for returns filed in 2025)
  • The $600 threshold will go into effect for tax year 2025, and taxpayers over the limit can expect to receive a 1099-K at the beginning of 2026

 

• Greenwood announced the launch of Greenwood Invest allowing their customers to invest in stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) with no hidden fees or commissions, fractional share investment ability, educational resources, spotlight on black-owned/led businesses, and SIPC insurance.  Check it out at gogreenwood.com/invest/ - Nice work! 😊

 

• Rapid Finance has partnered with Ramp to provide small businesses on Ramp’s spend management platform faster access to capital through Rapid Finance’s financing options.

 

• 🏠 For my mortgage friends - Single Family RE Loan Limits for 2024 have been released.  $766,550 is the new conforming loan limit and $498,257 is the new FHA loan limit.

 

• Symphony has partnered with Google to AI-based voice transcription to help ensure banks’ voice calls are compliant (utilizing Symphony's Cloud9 voice product with Google Cloud's speech-to-text service).

 

• SoFi announced they are halting crypto services - not too overly surprising given the current regulatory environment.  In fact, Blockworks had a really good article back in August that detailed SoFi’s ‘no assurance’ of meeting Federal Reserve crypto standards.

 

• Widely anticipated, Discover announced they are exploring the sale of their student loan portfolio and pursue the transfer of servicing of such loans to a third-party provider.  Additionally, Discover stated that they will “stop accepting new applications for student loans February 1, 2024…”

 

• Silvergate (FDIC 27330) announced they have fully repaid all of its remaining deposit liabilities without risk to the Deposit Insurance Fund as the bank continues its voluntary liquidation.

 

• Nuvei (Nasdaq: NVEI), the Canadian fintech launches card issuing in 30 markets across the European Economic Area, with a roll-out to the UK, US and Latin America planned for 2024.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • PayGround (healthcare payments platform) raised $19.7M in an oversubscribed Series A funding round.
  • Mozaic (payment-splitting/management solution for creators and B2B platforms) raised $20M in Series A round.
  • RepeatMD (mobile ecommerce platform for increasing inbound revenue / rewards for aesthetic and wellness practices with patient financing provided via Affirm) raised $50M in Series A funding round.
  • CapitalOS (spend management infrastructure and embedded finance for B2B platforms) raised $39M in Capital consisting of an undisclosed mix of debt and equity.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Some sad news over the last few weeks… 
  • Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away on November 19th at the age of 96.  Take a few moments and enjoy the pictures, tributes, and biography at rosalynncartertribute.org.  “Do what you can to show you care about others, and you will make our world a better place.”  — Rosalynn Carter
  • Charlie Munger, Vice Chairman of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, passed away at the age of 99.  Yahoo Finance has a good article detailing his unique and punchy quotes about life and markets.
  • Henry Kissinger, former National Security Advisor and Secretary of State, passed away at the age of 100.  More amazing pictures and timelines can be found at henryakissinger.com.
  • Sandra Day O’Connor, the first woman to serve on the Supreme Court, passed away this week at the age of 93.  NBC News has a good article of her life and service as well as excellent photos.
• WOW is the only thing that comes to mind here…  Elon Musk tells advertisers that are boycotting spending on X (fka Twitter) to “go f*** yourself” (warning – that link contains actual f-bombs)….🤐  Aren’t you glad you don’t have Linda Yaccarino’s job as CEO of X — the former advertising chief at NBCUniversal who Musk brought on board to shore up the platform’s appeal to advertisers.  LOL!!!
• Okay – on a much lighter note, here come the Dad / Bad jokes to kick the weekend off:
  • People who talk to themselves have a significantly higher IQ…..  Well that’s what I tell myself anyway - LOL!!!!!  😜
  • Chuck Norris can fold a fitted sheet with one hand…
  • A 350 credit score can prevent identity theft….
  • What did the fish say when he swam in to a wall?  Dam….
  • If you think I’m crazy, you should meet my family – I had to adapt to my surroundings. 🤠 😂

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
We will be pausing the Uncle Sean update next week in observance of Thanksgiving Holiday – so this week becomes the official Happy Turkey Day edition!!!! 🦃🍗 🤠  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/17/23:
 

• Some quick economic updates that seemed to move treasury yields down this week as the economy continues to cool down:
  • The BLS October CPI Report came in flat on a month over month basis and declined annually to 3.2% (expectation was 3.3% and Sept was 3.7%).  Core CPI also continued to slow ever so slightly to 4.0% (expectation of 4.1% and Sept was 4.1%).
    • CNBC has a good summary as always (Uncle Sean loves the simple graph) showing consistent declines in Core CPI albeit still way hotter than the Fed’s 2% target.
  • October PPI also came in light at negative 0.5% (estimate was 0.1% increase; last month was 0.4%) with YoY demand at 1.3% (Sept YoY was 2.2%).

 

• Warning – Uncle Sean goes “off the rails” with some unsolicited commentary here, so feel free to scroll down if you like 😊…
  • 👀 This caught my attention, but not for the reasons you might think (more on that below)….  HMBradley announced this week that they will shut down retail operations and focus on B2B sales of their technology. 
    • Banking Dive has a good summary of HMBradley and the history of how they ended up here, including the rapid growth that caused their previous sponsor bank (Hatch Bank) to pump the brakes on new accounts which was (of course) extremely disruptive for HMBradley.  To me, this was the beginning of the enlightening period for many fintech companies – understanding the reality of being exposed to vendor concentration risk of having only one BaaS sponsor bank that could (and did) control the addition of new accounts for the fintech. 
    • As far as the shift to B2B, we have seen many instances of this over the last 18 months (fintech companies shifting from B2C to B2B or even B2B2C) as fintech companies pivot from bank competitor to bank vendor, so that part isn’t too surprising to me.  HOWEVER (for my banker friends)…..  Here comes the plot twist as this next part has largely been overlooked – the BaaS Sponsor Bank response:
      • Often times in a fintech wind down, we see recommendations to account holders to take their business to other comparable fintech platforms.  For HMBradley, they repeatedly recommend customers go to mybankingdirect.com (which even has a “welcome HMBradley customers” message for easy signup).
      • What is interesting here is that My Banking Direct is the Direct Digital Bank (my friends over at DCI refer to this as a “digital branch”) division of Flagstar Bank, which is HMBradley’s current BaaS Sponsor Bank. 
        • It looks like My Banking Direct was launched earlier this year – about the same time that HMBradley was considering their wind down of retail ops.  This may have just been a coincidence, or it may have been intentional strategy from Flagstar – I don’t know for sure.  But If you have seen any of my presentations over the last couple of years on BaaS / embedded finance, you know that I consistently emphasize having an exit / deconversion strategy. 
          • This concept of a BaaS Sponsor Bank creating a Direct Digital Bank as an exit strategy to directly and efficiently onboard end users from a fintech FBO account to on-core DDA accounts of the bank is something new (to me anyway).  VERY COOL!!!! 🤠🚀

 

• Congratulations to ZSuite Tech as they celebrate a milestone achievement of signing its 75th bank customer!!!

 

• Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113) partners with Capchase to provide subscription/revenue-based financing for SaaS companies.

 

• Customers Bank (FDIC 34444; NYSE: CUBI) selects Funding Circle to expand the banks digital small business lending capabilities through Funding Circle’s embedded Lending as a Service (LaaS) platform.

 

• Acorns and Dwayne Johnson (yep – THE ROCK!!! 💪🏽) announced the launch of the Mighty Oak Debit Card, a heavy metal Tungsten card with Real-Time Round-Ups®, auto-investing, 3% APY interest checking, and 5% APY on Emergency Fund savings with no minimums.
  • That’s some pretty slick features!  Here’s a freebie - Acorns is one of those fintech examples of BaaS Sponsor Bank diversification strategy using multiple sponsor banks segmented by product. 😉  But if you are a customer of our FedFis FinTech Analytics© database, you already knew that (contact Bobby Button for more info)!!!  I am NOT above a shameless plug from time to time – LOL!!! 😊

 

• Payroll company ADP announced a partnership with Convera to integrate Convera’s payment services into ADP’s payroll software.

 

• Socure (smoking hot digital identity space) launched Sigma Synthetic Fraud v4 using “advanced machine learning and diverse, third-party and network feedback data to uncover patterns linked to insidious synthetic identity fraud.”

 

• Plinqit has partnered with Bankjoy so that Fi’s that use Bankjoy’s digital banking solution can embed Plinqit’s financial wellness and savings platform directly into their online and mobile banking interface.

 

• Interesting Personnel moves this week:
  • The Clearing House (TCH) has hired Keith Melton from the Federal Reserve as TCH’s new Senior Vice President and RTP® Strategic Program Manager.
  • Q2 (NYSE: QTWO) announced several executive hires including:
    • Himagiri Mukkamala as Chief Development Officer; H. Beth Anne Bygum, MSLM, CBCP as Chief Information Security Officer; and Blair S. Williams, Ph.D. as Chief Risk Officer.
  • PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) also announced several executive appointments:
    • Isabel Cruz as Chief People Officer; Michelle Gill as EVP, General Manager of the newly formed Small Business and Financial Services Group; and Diego Scotti as EVP, General Manager of a newly formed Consumer Group and Global Marketing & Communications organization.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Era (PFM App) raised $3.1M in Seed round.
  • Imprint (provider of co-branded cards for brands) raised $75M in Series B funding round.
  • Apiture (digital banking platform) raised $10M insider fundraising round.
  • Refine Intelligence (AML platform that can “greenflag” legitimate customer behavior) launched this week with $13M in Seed funding.
  • Every.io (full-stack back office platform for businesses) raised $9.5M in Seed funding.
  • CFX Labs (cross-border payment solution) raised $9.5M in Seed funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Ahh Thanksgiving… 🦃  So many happy memories growing up…  Football, family, feasts, and the sincere thankfulness and joy of just being together…. 💗  While there is a tremendous amount of love and nostalgia – this isn’t quite the whole story…  Our dear Mom and Grandmother (rest their souls) were absolutely the most wonderful of people – just maybe not the worlds best when it came to cooking turkey...  To say it was a “tad on the dry side” would be quite the literary injustice…  Pretty sure that for the first 20 years or so of my life, the way our family cooked Thanksgiving Turkey was to throw that thing in the oven and bake the holy spirit out of it for umpteen hours!!!! 😯  There literally wasn’t enough gravy to take the dry smack out of that cremated bird – you’d have to drink the juice straight from the olive jar to choke it down!!! 😅 LOL!!!!  Yessir – there was certainly a reason we only ate it once per year…  But you had to eat it because they had been up since 3 AM cooking every last bit of moisture out of that thing. 😬  And you dare not say anything other than “this is lovely, delish” and “thank you” out of fear of literally everyone at the table giving you “that look.”  LOL!!!!
  • Ahh, but kudo’s to my brother Dave Mayo who finally took the reins and began a different method (after years of secretively discussing in private how bad our family turkey sucked – even though we would never utter such words in public – well, until now 😊).  Enter the new Mayo family era of smoked turkey on a good ole fashioned offset Texas smoker pit – and our Thanksgiving culinary lives were forever changed!!!  Davey has been perfecting this method for over three decades now; and I have also put a slight spin on the same recipe / process for my own bird, but I am sworn to secrecy as to not reveal the full ingredients and exact process involved.  I can tell you though, that our smoked bird is the juiciest, most tender, and flavorful turkey I have ever eaten.  Davey puts just a slight hint of Cajun spin into his (I haven’t quite been able to perfect mine like his just yet even though he has showed me each step in detail).  Literally everyone who has tried either of our smoked birds absolutely falls in love with it.  As my late Uncle Larry would say, “OOOH WEEE – that right there tastes like good credit!!!!”  😊💗 Happy Turkey Day everyone!!!! 🤠🍗
• And here we go - a few quick Dad / Bad jokes:
  • I’m not certain about an inner child, but I do have an inner idiot that tends to surface every now and then!!!!  😂🤣
  • I grilled a chicken for two hours; and it still wouldn’t tell me why it crossed the road… 🙄
  • The fastest way to get back on your feet is to miss a couple of car payments.
  • Does condensed milk come from really small cows??? 😊
  • And lastly - It is true, you can use coffee filters as toilet paper….  But that coffee is gonna taste pretty rough… 😝😯

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend, a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving Holiday, and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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 Veterans Day as we honor and celebrate all who have served.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/10/23 (spoiler alert – this was a really fun update for me 🤠, but there is a lot to unpack):
 
 
Now that I have had a week to digest the FedFis Roundup Conference, here are a few key points that I want to share (the theme was distinctively Community, Compliance, and Commerce):

• DAY 1…  Right off the bat – The opening ceremony was awesome as we were led by General Steve Lepper in the singing of our National Anthem at the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg, Texas (also known locally as the Nimitz Museum).  If you didn’t have goosebumps after that, you need to check your pulse as you may not have a heartbeat at all!
  • Next came an incredible innovative banker panel with industry leaders Jared Robinson, Ryan James, and Josh Rowland delivering a consistent message of “lean into COMPLIANCE” as that is the financial moat that protects you, your charter, and your customers.  Do what you do best – manage the fintech relationships in a safe and sound manner; and own the “compliance aspects as the experts you are!”  The theme here was bringing banking-as-a-service back to the bank where it belongs.  Hell yeah!!!! ♥️💪
• Day 2…  So many amazing presentations and individual roundtable discussions really created a COMMUNITY and fellowship vibe.
  • Very fitting for Veterans Day…  Uncle Sean really enjoyed the presentation by General Steve Lepper on the PATRIOT Card – a Visa debit card built by MOCA and offered by AMBA to help Service Members, Veterans, and their families manage their finances through the unique challenges they face (a very passionate topic).  I was impressed with the instant and widely flexible card controls through the app including real-time transaction alerts and instant virtual issuance (great for caregivers).  Comes equipped with flexible family controls (just like MOCA’s Family Cards) which is another added benefit.  There is also a benefit to bankers as they can participate by:
    • becoming a Marketing Referral Partner; becoming a Custodian & Issuer Sponsor for the PATRIOT card; and/or becoming an Issuer Sponsor of the MOCA card program.  Uncle Sean loves programs where everyone wins and a unique problem is solved – especially when our Veterans are involved.  VERY Nice!!!! 
  • Also loved the presentation on the broader Bankers Helping Bankers ecosystem by Matthew Smith who also was awarded the highly coveted FedFis Buffalo Award!!!!! 🦬  This award is presented annually to someone who is a true community bank champion; and if you know Matthew – there is no doubt that he fits the bill!  Congratulations!!!!
    • 👀 Sneak Peek…  it was announced at the conference that BHB has launched a BaaS Program Toolkit for purchase (go to the Bankers Helping Bankers site and click on the BaaS Toolkit at the top) – a step by step compliant guide to banking as a service!!!!  Expect much more PR on this next week.  Sorry Charlie, it’s only for bankers; and you have to be signed up to BHB to even access it.  But good news – access to the BHB platform is free for bankers thanks to our premier sponsors – just go to the Bankers Helping Bankers site and select “REQUEST ACCESS”.  It’s that easy!!! 😊
  • Always my favorite part was ending up at Luckenbach, Texas for some really good Texas BBQ, cold adult beverages, and a live show by the great singer-songwriter, Mr. Kevin Fowler – WOOHOO!!!!  🎵🍺🤠
• Day 3…  Special “thank you” to Jason Mikula for a great job in moderating a Core Processing panel with Fiserv (Sunil Sachdev), Helix by Q2 (Chris Amador), and DCI (Tanna Faulkner) – very engaging discussion surrounding contracts, capabilities, and where the industry is headed from an embedded finance perspective.
  • I also want to give a shout out to Sunil Sachdev for an amazing presentation on embedded finance (feels to me like the next evolution of BaaS) and COMMERCE in the context of further fragmentation of banking (i.e. enterprise merchants / major retail brands continuing to push into financial services – HEB, Walmart, 7-Eleven, Target, Walgreens, Amazon, Dollar General, etc.).
  • Final takeaway that caught my attention…  You know you have landed on something special when the conference is over and the audience continues to stay put with an open mike and engage / ask questions in a complete open forum with each other. 😊

 
 
Now back to the rest of the Uncle Sean Update!!!!

• Here comes 1033 open banking evolution – ready or not from third-party data aggregators 😲…  Plaid announced they have “formed a new entity that will build solutions for customers who want ready-made credit risk insights from consumer-permissioned cash flow data. This new entity will operate as a consumer reporting agency and help our customers make smarter risk decisions throughout the lending process.”
  • And from a slightly different angle - Adyen announced they have partnered with Plaid to offer Pay-by-Bank services in North America by utilizing Plaid’s ability to allow consumers to directly connect their bank / financial data to thousands of apps and services.  The article states that “Plaid is already trusted by about 1 in 3 Americans with a bank account, and provides a secure and seamless way to connect financial accounts for bank-linked payments.”

 

• The Federal Reserve Board released their semiannual Supervision and Regulation Report, November 2023 (easy read at 42 pages). 
  • Uncle Sean loves the simple and clean graphs; and although most show continued deterioration in many areas (liquidity, wholesale funding, loan performance, etc.), there is a noticeable trajectory towards pre-pandemic levels (a “reversion to the mean” for my statistical superfreaks out there – you know who you are – own it baby 😝). 
  • The question on everyone’s mind (including mine), is if the trajectory levels off or accelerates beyond pre-pandemic norms….  “Soft landing” anyone??? 🤔  Fingers crossed for what the next couple of quarters of bank performance, economic activity, and consumer financial health deliver.  Very exciting times for financial geeks like me 🤓 – LOL.

 

• And another CU buying a bank…  A.E.A. Federal Credit Union (Charter 4915; $385M total assets) to acquire West Valley National Bank (FDIC 58426; $74M total assets).
  • For those keeping score at home, this brings the total to 11 announced CU acquisitions of a bank so far for 2023 (remember that last week in August where we had 5 announced acquisitions of banks - WOW).  That compares to 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (Source FedFis).  The trend continues….

 

• More CU news as a couple of huge CUSO’s announced a merger - PSCU and Co-op Solutions announce agreement to combine.  CU Today has a very good detailed summary.

 

• Quick shoutout to our friends over at FIntegrate Technology as they announce the promotion of Kris Nuss to Chief Revenue Officer – congrats, Kris!!! 🚀

 

• 👀 For anyone managing data capture and analysis (myself included 😬)….  JPMorgan Chase is working directly with US regulators as they build out AI projects.  Specifically, the bank is “testing AI applications that can generate earnings summaries for every company that the bank monitors.”

 

• Widely viewed as inevitable….  Office sharing company, WeWork has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and has become the posterchild (right or wrong) of Commercial Office Space woes in the US CRE market as the BK restructuring is expected to cancel many office space leases – particularly in NY.

 

• Regions Bank (NYSE: RF) selects Self Financial credit-building service to help Regions’ Consumer Banking customers build their credit by reporting rent, cell phone, and utility bills to the three major credit bureaus. 
  • Another example of building credit without having to take on additional debt – Uncle Sean loves this for younger adults as well as traditionally underserved markets!  😊

 

• Bluevine (business banking platform) announced the launch of Bluevine Premier featuring 4.25% APY (CHA-CHING!!!) on up to $3M in FDIC insured deposits through their sweep program.  This is an upgraded product to their existing interest bearing checking capped at 2.0%; with higher minimum average daily balances and higher monthly spend requirements.  Bluevine Premier customers that do not meet the minimums can still participate in the higher yields with a monthly fee of $95.

 

• Another week another PFM app closes up shop…  Status Money (PFM app) is shutting down effective Nov. 10, 2023 and transitioning all user accounts to Quicken Simplifi.

 

• DataVisor (AI-powered fraud and risk platform) has partnered with NYMBUS to provide fraud management for NYMBUS customers on their suite of digital banking offerings.

 

• 30-year mortgage rates see largest one-week drop in a year (per Freddie Mac research), falling 25 bps on the heals of declining treasury yields.  This comes in spite of a sloppy 30-year Treasury bond auction this week that briefly pushed the 10yr and 30yr yields up mid-week before settling back down.

 

• ICYMI, there was a bank failure late last week…  Citizens Bank in Sac City, IA (FDIC 8758; $66M total assets; $59M in deposits) was closed by the Iowa Division of Banking (IODB).  The IODB stated that examiners identified significant loan losses that had not previously been identified by the bank; and was then declared insolvent.  “The bank had a concentration of out-of-territory and out-of-state loans to one industry and incurred heavy losses on some of those loans.”
  • FedFis had a failure rating of 4.58 (1.00 – 5.00 scale where 1.00 is good and 5.00 is bad) for Citizens Bank placing them at the lowest percentile of all reporting banks for 3Q2023 (and the prior quarter as well).  Nice shameless plug right there!!!! 😉🙂
  • Iowa Trust & Savings Bank (FDIC 18400; $488M total assets) purchased all consumer, business, and public deposits so there is no loss to any depositors.  They also purchased all available loans.  The FDIC estimates the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) to be $14.8M.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • MPOWER Financing (a Public Benefit Corporation providing student loans for international students) closed on additional debt financing that brings the firms overall lending capacity to more than $300m.
  • Volante Technologies (cloud-based payments-as-a-service platform) $66M in equity + debt funding “to make a push into more international services, and to sell to more mid-tier banks to complement the big names already on its customer list.”
  • Greenlite (AI staff augmentation for bank and fintech compliance teams) raised $4.8M in Seed Round.  Definitely worth checking them out at greenlite.ai – Nice!!!!

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Keeping this short as the Update this week was pretty jam packed.  However – I would like to thank whomever invented spell-check.  Without it, I would probably misspell my own name (and I certainly would not be in charge of publishing ANYTHING at all) - LOL!!!

• A couple of quick Dad / Bad jokes to get the weekend going:
  • Now that I have lived through an actual plague, I completely understand why Italian Renaissance paintings are full of naked fat people laying around on couches…. 😂🤣
  • Was thinking about starting a professional Hide & Seek league, but good players are hard to find…… (groans)… 🙄
• One last item – I don’t know if this is a factually accurate quote, but I sure hope so as it made my heart smile…
  • “There’s nothing better than a world where everybody’s just trying to make each other laugh.”  - Matthew Perry

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
WOWZA what a week!!!!  I am writing this literally as we are wrapping up our conference – The Roundup presented by FedFis 🤠.  I promise a bit of a summary of The Roundup happenings next week (spoiler alert – it was AMAZING with an overall consistent theme of “compliance, community, and commerce”), but for now - Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/3/23:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  As widely expected, the FOMC unanimously voted to hold rates steady at the current range of 5.25% - 5.50% where it has been since July.  However, quantitative tightening continues (QT – a/k/a “shrinking the Fed Balance Sheet”) related to reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at the current rate of $60B in Treasuries and $35B in MBS per month per the policy implementation note.  CNBC has a good summary as always.  Keep in mind that the next meeting is scheduled for Dec 12-13 and will include the ever-entertaining Summary of Economic Projections (“dot plot” for us older folks).
  • If you really want to dig deeper, here is:
    • Chairman Powell transcript (26 pages)
    • Press conference video (51:28)
  • Meanwhile, the BLS issued their October Jobs Report showing job growth of 150,000 (estimate was 188K; and down sharply from September’s jaw dropping 300K – which includes a downward revision of 39K).  Unemployment ticked up to 3.9% (expectation was 3.8% which was last month actual).

 

• Happy to share a good plug here – the CFPB Selects FedFis Data!!! NICE!!! 

 

• And more good news as the Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) Fund welcomes four new community bank investors - Fannin Bank, Dream First Bank, Ozona Bank, and Generations Bank are the latest to join the BHB Fund as limited partners.
  • Side note…  I finally got the chance to hang out and talk with Richard Leggett and Neeraj Vohra from the BHB Fund (Latitude38 Venture Partners) – a great time with some REALLY great people!!! 😊

 

• The White House issues AI EO (I’m certain there’s an Old MacDonald joke there, but I digress 🤣😂)….  CNBC has a good summary.

 

• 👀 Per an SBA announcement earlier this week, Funding Circle joins Arkansas Capital Corp. and Alaska Growth Capital BIDCO as the first non-depository institutions to be granted new Small Business Lending Company licenses in 40 years.

 

• BankProv has selected Cable to enhance the banks financial crime compliance program with Cable’s all-in-one financial crime effectiveness testing platform.

 

• Intuit is shutting down Mint by January 1, 2024 while encouraging a shift for those users to the Credit Karma platform it acquired in 2020.

 

• Neu (financial wellness for students) announced the launch of the Neu Card (a Visa charge card CC) to help college students build credit without falling into the debt trap.

 

• And not too much of a surprise here, but the jury quickly found SBF guilty on all charges and is now facing up to 115 years in prison.

 

• Some interesting personnel moves:
  • The Clearing House (TCH) announced that payments industry expert, Margaret Weichert has been hired as Chief Product Officer.
  • PayPal (NASDAQ: PYPL) announced Jamie Miller has been named as Chief Financial Officer.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Charlie (neobank targeting older Americans) raised $23M in Capital consisting of $16M in Series A plus another $7M debt facility.  Charlie intends to use the funding to accelerate growth and “launch industry-first financial fraud protections specifically designed for the unique needs of older Americans.” 
  • Payroll Integrations (“financial wellness as a benefit” tools platform) raised $20M in Series A funding round.
  • EarlyBird (app that allows friends and family to gift investments to children via UGMA custodial account) raised $4.5M in extended Seed round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Special shout out to our baby girl, Claire – who turns 19 today (how is that even possible???)!!!  Happy Birthday, Claire – Mom and Dad love you and we are super proud of you! 💕 🎂🎉
• ⏰ Don’t forget to set your clocks back this Saturday night as daylight savings time comes to an end (technically at 2 AM local time Sunday Morning)….
• Congratulations to the Texas Rangers for winning the MLB 2023 World Series in a spectacular game 5 victory (and becomes the first MLB team to win 11 straight playoff games away from home – that’s amazing)!!!!
• As we wrap up our Roundup conference, this weeks classic Dad Jokes are brought to you by Jeremy Neuharth with Sycorr:
  • A banker friend told me to put something away for a rainy day…..  I’ve gone for an umbrella.  😊
  • This banker I know has absolutely no friends… I think he is “loanly”…   
  • What’s the hardest part bout being addicted to banking?  The withdrawals!!!  😝

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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 Halloween next week to all the ghosts and ghouls out there (don’t forget to pay your exorcist in full or you’ll get “repossessed” 😊)…. Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/27/23:

• 👀 Acting Comptroller of the OCC, Michael Hsu is applying a “supply chain mindset” to bank-fintech scrutiny… 
  • “Sometimes you have a BaaS middleware player, different fintechs or your bank sponsor trying to do things at scale with lots of different kinds of players. That just, inherently, is more complicated. And if it’s more complicated, there’s likely going to be just a bit more risk there. And where there’s a bit more risk, we’re going to apply more scrutiny,” he said (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean).
  • Yep – here it comes…  An unsolicited Uncle Sean “off the rails” moment… 🤠
    • Here at FedFis, we have been sounding the alarm about the risks of the middleware / connector model literally for well over three years now; and it hasn’t always been a popular opinion (to say the least) – but hey, when you are right, you’re right! 
    • A couple of folks you should be following for more information on this topic:
      • Jason Mikula – click here to subscribe to Fintech Business Weekly (outstanding investigative journalism in all things BaaS and fintech)
      • Alex Johnson – check out his latest Observations from Money 20/20 (you can subscribe from that link too)
        • “There seems to be a belief among regulators that any BaaS middleware model that includes significant program management or that attempts to obfuscate the relationship between the bank and the non-bank partner is fundamentally flawed and incompatible with satisfactory third-party risk management. Put simply, Synapse and Solid seem to have ruined it for everyone.” – Very well said, Alex! 😎

• And a quick macroeconomic update (because you know I can’t pass that up – LOL)…  Pushed by continued strength in consumer spending, US GDP grew at 4.9% annualized pace in the 3rd quarter (estimate was 4.7%).
  • Chalk that one up to summertime / vacation spending….  We’ll see how well holiday spending holds up this quarter.  And then the bill comes due in 1Q2024… 😲

• It’s here….  The FDIC, Federal Reserve, and the OCC jointly issued final rule to strengthen and modernize Community Reinvestment Act (CRA).  Some quick key points:
  • Implementation (mostly) to begin Jan 2026.
  • Updates asset size thresholds for small, intermediate, and large banks to account for changes in the banking industry: (1) small banks: <$600M (from <$376M); (2) intermediate banks: $600M–<$2B (from $376M–$1.503B); and (3) large banks: ≥$2B (from ≥$1.503B), adjusted annually for inflation.
  • Small banks will continue to be evaluated under the existing framework with the option to be evaluated under the new framework. The rule also exempts small and intermediate banks from new data requirements that apply to banks with assets of at least $2 billion and limits certain new data requirements to large banks with assets greater than $10 billion.
  • Takes into account not only branch footprint, but source of lending to include internet and mobile (finally).
  • Here are some more data links if you really want to dig deep:
    • 2 page final CRA fact sheet.
    • 7 page CRA key objectives summary.
    • The actual Federal Register notice is almost 1,500 pages – Whoof!!! 😬

• Another important regulatory update….  The Federal Reserve Board has issued a request for comment on a proposal to lower debit interchange fees and establish a regular process for updating the maximum interchange rates on an every other year basis going forward.
  • A $50 debit card transaction would decline from 24.5 cents under the current rule to 17.7 cents under the proposal; and only applicable to banks greater than $10B (Durbin statute).

• U.S. Bank (FDIC 6548) announced the launch of Avvance, and embedded point of sale financing solution (BNPL) to offer consumer financing during checkout with a quick application and instant decisioning.  Check it out at avvance.com.

• NerdWallet (Nasdaq: NRDS) announced the launch of NerdUp Mastercard credit card which is a secured charge card (meaning no hard credit pull) issued by Evolve Bank & Trust and powered by Bond (an FIS company).
  • Is it just me, or does the word NerdUp cause anyone else to immediately think of the song Word Up! by Cameo???  It’s just me, isn’t it…  It’s me… 🤣🎵🎶🕺

• Greenlight (family banking app) is at it again - this time they have formed a CUSO to empower credit unions to offer Greenlight for Credit Unions – nice!!!! 😊
  • Continuing to see more and more fintech firms expand their distribution strategy from challenger (B2C) to white-labeled solution for banks and CUs (B2B2C).
  • And Uncle Sean is a huge fan of the financial literacy emphasis within the Greenlight app!!! 👍

• Marqeta (NASDAQ: MQ) announced their new credit card issuing platform to make it very easy for retail brands to issue and control embedded credit cards for their customers.  You can check out Marqeta’s CEO (Simon Khalaf) interview on CNBC regarding their new credit card issuing platform.

• CSI announced a partnership with Dragonfly Financial Technologies to leverage Dragonfly’s Universal Online Banker platform, an enterprise-level business banking solution to CSI’s customers.

• Highnote expands their debit, prepaid, and fleet issuing card platform to now include consumer credit.

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) partners with Melio to enable financial institutions to better meet the payments needs of small businesses (including payable and receivable workflows).

• LoanPro introduced transaction-level credit, a personalized underwriting methodology to handle transaction approvals and apply different financial mechanics based on transaction-specific attributes.

• Socure announced the launch of Sigma First-Party Fraud solution powered by the concurrent launch of its First-Party Fraud Consortium (FPFC) to detect and prevent fraud before it happens based on pooling of data and insights.
  • “The consortium's founding members include many of the nation's largest digital banks and fintechs, including SoFi, Green Dot, Varo, Ingo, Dave and Public, amongst others, totaling over 50 million active accounts across the consortium at launch.”

• WEX (NYSE: WEX) announced a definitive agreement to acquire Payzer for total consideration of approximately $250 million, with additional contingent consideration of up to $11M based on defined performance metrics.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Prism Data (cash flow underwriting and predictive analysis platform originally spun off from the credit card firm Petal) raised $5M Seed Round.
  • Lunr (inventory financing for emerging retail brands) raised $6M in equity financing.
  • Oportun (Nasdaq: OPRT) raised $200 million private structured financing solution to finance the origination of its personal loan products.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• After a crazy playoff series in baseball, it is now official.  Congratulations to the Texas Rangers and the Arizona Diamondbacks for making it to the 2023 World Series in a rare MLB all-wildcard matchup!!!  Game 1 starts this Friday 10/27 at 7:05 Central in Arlington, TX.  Former President George W. Bush will throw out the ceremonial first pitch.
• Here they are – your Bad / Dad Jokes for the week:
  • The word “seven” has “even” in it…  Which is odd…. 🤔
  • I recently ordered a Life Alert bracelet – so if I do get a life, I’ll be notified immediately!  LOL!!!
  • It’s all fun and games until your oversized shirts start fitting…  😲
  • Albert Einstein was a genius, but his brother Frank was a monster….  😃
  • If you think about it…  When you’re drinking beer, the beer is getting drunk too…  🍺
  • I tend to do my beast proofreading right after I hit sned…  Every snigle weak….  

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend, a very Happy Halloween, and please stay safe!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
Wow – another crazy busy week for everyone’s favorite source of quick market research (if I do say so myself – LOL), so let’s jump right into it!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/20/23:
 

• Continued pressures in the bond market have pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to 5% (intraday) for the first time since 2007; and is up approximately 30 bps over the last week!
  • Meanwhile, the national average for 30-yr mortgage just hit 8% for the first time in 23 years….  Whoof!!! 😬  We hear you now Chairman Powell….  We hear ya!!!

 

• ICYMI - the long awaited CFPB 1033 Proposed Rule and Request for Public Comment is here with the stated intention to accelerate the shift towards “open banking” in the US.
  • Note that the deadline for comments to be received is Dec 29, 2023.
  • Without digging into the nitty gritty details (I will leave that to your discretion), applicable implementation deadlines if/when passed are (sourced from pages 42-43):
    • 6 months from publication (i.e. final rule as published in the Federal Register) for institutions greater than $500B in assets
    • 1 year from publication for institutions $50B - $500B in assets
    • 2.5 years from publication for institutions $850M - $50B in assets
    • 4 years from publication for institutions less than $850M in assets

 

• Nacha released solid third quarter results of 7.8 billion payments, up 3% from the same time last year and 4.6% per processing day. The value of those payments was $19.7 trillion.
  • Results were buoyed by Same Day ACH of 212  payments with a total value of $608 billion (increases of 20% and 27.1% respectively over 3Q22) and increases in B2B volume of 9.6%.

 

• Jack Henry announced the launch of Financial Crimes Defender, an AI-powered BSA/AML solution designed for real-time detection and prevention prior to transactions leaving the institution; and includes the Federal Reserve’s FraudClassifier built into the solution.
  • This is just a few months removed from JKHY’s launch of Payrailz Fraud Monitor, an AI based payment fraud mitigation feature with configurable tolerances at the FI level.

 

• COCC enters into partnership with SentinelOne (NYSE:S) as a Managed Security Services Provider (MSSP) to deliver the next generation of cybersecurity to community banks.

 

• 👀 Q2 (NYSE: QTWO) announced the launch of Q2 Fabric – a full-stack system combining a lightweight modern core and a pre-integrated fintech ecosystem enabling both banks and credit unions to launch direct digital brands (digital branch) alongside the existing FI core.
  • “With Q2 Fabric, financial institutions no longer need to rip and replace their legacy core systems to deliver personalized digital products,” said Ahon Sarkar, general manager, Helix by Q2. “Q2 Fabric runs alongside existing core capabilities to fuel the innovative digital-first banking experiences necessary to drive deposit growth and improve profitability.”
    • Additionally this week, Q2 announced they have partnered with Mastercard to bring debit and prepaid card programs to Helix customers.

 

• Grow Credit (credit builder platform) launched Credit-Building-as-a-Service tailored as a white-labeled API solution for financial institutions with an emphasis on elevating subprime customers to prime status.  Nice!!!!
  • If you have been following Uncle Sean over the last few weeks, you know we have been seeing many fintech companies shifting from a B2C model to also include a B2B2C / white-label solution as a bank vendor as opposed to a bank competitor for a differentiated distribution strategy. 😎

 

• Avenu, Mainstreet Bank’s (FDIC 57742) Baas subsidiary platform, has onboarded their first client, SafariPay.  Avenu will power SafariPay’s global money transmittance service known as PaySii.
  • Uncle Sean really likes this model of BaaS subsidiaries of a chartered institution. 😊

 

• The Federal Reserve Board hits sponsor bank Metropolitan Commercial Bank (MCB) with an enforcement action and fine totaling $30M (combined from NYDFS and FRB) related to a former prepaid card program (MovoCash) that resulted in $300M in unemployment benefit fraud.
  • The action cites deficiencies in CIP (BSA/AML) and third-party risk management.
  • Also worth noting that MCB terminated the Movo program back in 2020 and subsequently fully off-boarded Movo.  

 

• jaris announced a partnership with Agile Financial Systems (AFS) payment processing to offer AFS customers Instant Payouts and flexible working capital solutions via the jaris platform.   

 

• Unit launched “Lending” as a way for companies to offer credit products and capital to their customers with streamlined compliance and underwriting built in.

 

• Lithic expands their credit program with the new Lithic Commercial Charge Card.
  • This comes just 2 weeks after announcing their expansion beyond cards via Lithic Accounts and ACH.

 

• Galileo announced the launch of Galileo Corporate Credit solution designed specifically to help modernize B2B expense management though a central account with a single credit limit as opposed to (up to) thousands of individual employee charge cards to manage individually at the corporate level.

 

• Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) announced QuickBooks Bill Pay for SMB’s to deliver B2B payments with AP automation.

 

• Personnel moves:
  • Congratulations to our friend Sanjay Bhaskar as he joins Revio as their CRO.
  • Plaid hires former Expedia exec Eric Hart as Plaid's first CFO.
  • Self appoints Julie Szudarek as CEO.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Nova Credit (immigrant focused credit builder) raised $45M in Series C funding round.
  • Stash (investing app) picked up $40M in capital in the form of a convertible note as they eye a potential IPO in the near future.
  • Finzly (payments infrastructure for FI’s) raised $10M in Series A round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• The Texas Showdown continues as the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers slug it out for a shot at the World Series.  The MLB American League Championship Series is tied up at 2-2 as we go into Game 5 later this afternoon!!!!  A little bit weird that neither team has won a home game thus far through 4 games.  Go Stros!!!!
• A new world record pumpkin weighed in at 2,749 pounds - DANG!!!
• Yep – some first class (okay, maybe low class) Dad / Bad Jokes to get us into the weekend:
  • The first person to sail around the world single handed…..  Captain Hook!!! 🏴‍☠️
  • I was thinking about a diet, but I just have too much on my plate right now….  Nom, nom, nom!!!! 🍕🍔🌭
  • If a limbo dancer sets the bar high, is that good or bad???  🤔
  • And my favorite for the week…
    • Sometimes I run my fingers through Aunt Patty’s hair.  It’s a nice way to remind her that I love her; and that we are out of napkins – LOL!!!!  😝❤️🤣 Yep, I’m probably gonna pay for that one…  LOL!!!!

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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 leave milk and cookies out for Jason tonight (pathetic Friday the 13th Dad Joke attempt – eyes rolling)…  ANYWAY….  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/13/23:

• The BLS September CPI Report came in a pretty much stubbornly flat at 3.7% (expectation was 3.6% and August was 3.7%).  Core CPI slowed to 4.1% (spot on with expectation of 4.1% and August was 4.3%).  Shelter, which makes up about one-third of the CPI weight, remains sticky at 7.2% over last year.  😬
  • CNBC has a good summary (that graph tells the whole story).
  • Directly related to CPI-W from the BLS, Social Security announced a 3.2 percent benefit increase for 2024 – good news for the 71M Americans receiving benefits.

• It’s official….  Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) announced the sale of GreenSky – the fintech home improvement lending platform (including a book of loans) to a group of investors led by PE firm Sixth Street.  GS originally acquired GreenSky for $2.24B in an all-stock transaction and announced that the sale will result in a steep $0.19 per share reduction to 3Q earnings (this is after taking a $504M write-down of Goodwill last quarter related to the acquisition).

• The Federal Reserve issued their monthly Update on Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) showing a total outstanding amount of $119.1B as of 9/30/23…..  Uncle Sean Spoiler Alert – BTFP funding balance has remained largely flat for the entire 3rd quarter at around $119B - $121B.  🤔

• 👀 Apple’s financial ecosystem continues to expand as the Apple Wallet app now integrates balances and transaction history for Discover US credit cards. 
  • Many media outlets covered this product launch in the UK last month, but this is a first for the US; and it is specific to Discover credit cards (for now)….

• Bank of Hawaii announced they have partnered with Greenlight to help the banks customers teach their children financial literacy and smart money management through the Greenlight for Banks platform.  Nice!!!!
  • Starting to see much more of this trend in the BaaS / Fintech space…  Fintech challenger banks (old school terminology because I’m old) shifting from a B2C model to a B2B2C / white-label solution as a bank vendor as opposed to a bank competitor for a differentiated distribution strategy.  Evolution baby!!!! 😊

• Biz2X (subsidiary of Biz2Credit) announced a partnership with Republic Bank of Arizona to streamline the banks “business lending decision-making, expand lending operations, and make it easy for Arizona businesses to get the capital they require for growth.”

• Legacy Credit Union (Charter 24421; Total Assets $645M) selects Digital Onboarding adoption program.  The CU previously used outdated generic mailers and email campaigns to motivate new accounts to engage fully with the CU. 
  • Leia Ragland, Assistant Vice President, Marketing and Business Development at Legacy Credit Union stated, “We selected the Digital Onboarding adoption platform because members can enroll in direct deposit online in seconds and make our card their default payment method at their favorite merchants. We can now deliver highly personalized onboarding journeys for every member and see the results in real-time. It is the ideal solution for credit unions focused on maximizing organic growth!”

• Sila (end-to-end embedded payments infrastructure platform) has partnered with Fortress Trust to bring together “the best practices from banking, fintech development, and custodial services to create an all-encompassing solution tailored to meet the diverse needs of fintech and crypto companies.”

• Orum announced the launch of Verify.  Built on top of the new FedNow instant payment rail, Verify can determine “within 15 seconds whether a bank account is open and valid before initiating payments” making it fast and easy to authenticate any type of bank account.

• Blend (loan application software platform) announced expanded partnership with MeridianLink beyond mortgages (Blend is already integrated with MeridianLink® Mortgage) to include broader consumer loan products so that “lenders using MeridianLink® Consumer will have the ability to leverage Blend’s unified platform and consumer banking origination software for a fast onboarding and application process for banking, credit card, and loan products.”

• CoreLogic announced the launch of their integrated Digital Mortgage Platform (DMP) capitalizing on their acquisition of Roostify announced earlier this year.

• Scienaptic AI announced an integration with Nymbus that enables Nymbus bank and credit union clients to “enhance and automate their credit decisioning by utilizing Scienaptic's fair, inclusive, and regulatory-compliant AI platform.”

• Glia announced partnership integration with Lumin Digital to provide Lumin’s online banking customers with access to Glia’s Digital Customer Service (DCS) platform.

• The FDIC launched a national educational campaign titled “Know Your Risk. Protect Your Money.”  The campaign is targeted towards people who may have lower confidence in the U.S. banking system or who are unbanked, as well as those who use mobile payment systems, alternative banking services and financial products that may appear to be FDIC-insured but are not.

• Interesting personnel moves:
  • Ally Financial CEO Jeffrey Brown will step down in early 2024 to become President of Hendrick Automotive Group.
  • Square Chief Marketing Officer Lauren Weinberg departs for QuickBooks (apologies for the paywall).
  • Fiserv EVP and Co-Head Banking Organization Himanshu Patel is leaving to become CEO at Verifone.

• The CFPB is after TransUnion again…  The CFPB and the FTC have fined TransUnion $23M that includes $15M for allegedly failing to ensure the accuracy of rental background checks and another $8M for the mishandling of customer requests for credit freezes and locks.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Lendbuzz (AI-powered automobile finance platform) raised $345M in Capital consisting of $45M equity round and $300M in forward flow facility.
  • Canopy Servicing (API-enabled loan management and servicing) raised $15.2M in Series A1 funding round.
  • Carefull (financial safety) raised $16.5M in Series A round to help banks protect older customers from fraud, scams, and “money mistakes.”
  • Zolve (fintech neo-bank for immigrants) raised $100M debt facility to expand credit offerings for Indian immigrants in the US.
  • Alpaca (API-enabled stock and crypto Brokerage-as-a-Service) raised $15M in Capital in the form of a convertible note to fund its expansion in Asia.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• The McRib is back!!! 😲😄  After a faux “farewell tour” last year, McDonalds has confirmed that the McRib is due to return to select restaurants in November.  So rest easy McRibbers – only a few more weeks!
• The ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse is tomorrow (10/14/23).   If you are not fortunate enough to watch it in person (please use appropriate protective eyewear 😎), you can watch it online at space.com.
• You can stop scrolling now – LOL!!!  Some classic old school Dad Jokes right here:
  • I walked down a street where the houses were numbered 64K, 128K, 256K, 512K, and 1MB….  It was a stroll down memory lane…  Hehehehe!!!
  • If you get slapped at a very high frequency, it Hertz… 🤣
  • It’s pretty rare for a defibrillator to fail, but when it does – no one is shocked….
  • Aunt Patty made chicken salad last night…  Apparently they prefer grain. 🐔🐓
  • There is a chess maneuver called “The Bob Seger” – that’s when the ‘Knight moves’….  Okay – I’m done!!!!! 😝

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
Holy smokes it was a SUPER busy week – so let’s jump right into it.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/6/23:
 

• FIntegrate Technology announced a new strategic partnership with CSI to streamline data integration and enhance fraud prevention by leveraging FIntegrate’s Integration Manager™ alongside CSI's WatchDOG® fraud and AML solutions.  Uncle Sean loves to see this - two good companies doing good things to help financial institutions!  😊

 

• Oof 😬…  The BLS released their September Jobs Report showing the economy added a whopping 336K jobs which is almost 2X the estimate of 170K – WOWZA!!!  Adding more “fuel to the Fed fire”, Aug actual was revised up to 227K from 187K.  Unemployment remained flat at 3.8%.  The good news is that wage growth was “somewhat” suppressed at only 0.2% for the month and 4.2% YoY which was below expectations.  CNBC has a good summary.
  • Of course treasury yields spiked on the news…  So, pardon me while I “micro manage the macro data” 🤓 (if you listen closely you can practically “hear” Aunt Patty rolling her eyes – LOL)….. 
    • 2/10 spread is now under 30 bps at 27 (intraday at the time of this writing) as term premium continues to push yield on the long end and flatten the yield curve.
      • US10Y yield bumped up above 4.8% (compared to 6/30/23 close of 3.841% - an increase of 25%) – source: cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y
    • Compounding the rate squeeze (not just existing bondholders getting pinched), the Mortgage Bankers Association is reporting that mortgage demand has dropped to the lowest level since 1996 as rates push towards 8+% for 30 year mortgage.  OUCH!!!!

 

• RiskScout announces Launch program “designed to streamline BSA compliance by increasing accessibility to the company's cutting-edge BSA & Optimization system, the Launch program offers prospects the opportunity to get started in as little as one day, all at lower entry prices and with no long-term commitment.”  Nice triple-whammy!!!! 🏆

 

• Hawthorn River announced an expanded partnership with CSI by integrating Hawthorn River's “proprietary document tracking system with CSI's document imaging platform, CenterDoc 2.0, in a new solution that eliminates the need for tedious manual scanning and indexing of documents.”

 

• Helix by Q2 (NYSE: QTWO) helps Wysh to launch Savings+ - Wysh’s new high-yield savings account coupled with embedded life insurance.

 

• BHG Financial partners with Cable to “integrate Cable’s financial crime effectiveness testing platform to enhance its robust financial crime compliance program with cutting-edge automated assurance and testing capabilities.”

 

• Stockpile (online brokerage with family investing and financial literacy app) partners with Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT) to introduce new “products, tools and features aimed at making investing and personal finance more accessible to consumers of all ages” via Green Dots banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform. 

 

• RentSpree (end-to-end rental management software) launches Credit Builder, a rent reporting feature to enhance renters credit by automatically reporting rent payments to TransUnion.  Uncle Sean is a fan of credit building products that do not entice consumers to incur debt. 👍

 

• PayZen launched the PayZen Care Card and mobile app - an interest-free embedded patient financing solution for healthcare providers.  As a “care-now-pay-later” solution, PayZen pays the healthcare provider up front and establishes a payment plan with the patient customer using AI to underwrite a non-recourse transaction (PayZen assumes the payment risk).

 

• Lithic (BaaS infrastructure) expands beyond cards by announcing Lithic Accounts and ACH.

 

• Yo, yo, yo – check out the O.G. “J-Pow” keeping it real at the F-E-D!!!! 🤘 All kidding aside, Uncle Sean applauds the Federal Reserve Board for launching on Instagram and Threads with the goal of increasing the accessibility and availability of FRB news and educational content.  The video in the link is pretty cool as Chairman Jerome (Jay) Powell reminds us that October is National Economic Education Month.
  • The FRB now has a social media presence on LinkedIn, X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and Flickr – WOW!!!  Good work raising awareness of Fed decisions through education and content!!! 😊

 

• Speaking of…  The Federal Reserve announced that the FedNow® Service hits new milestone since their July launch with 108 financial institutions sending and receiving on the network.  The article goes on to point out that “In addition, 21 financial institutions are providing liquidity and settlement services, and 20 service providers are supporting payment processing in the instant payments infrastructure.”
  • The current full list of FedNow® participants can be found here.

 

• Personnel moves:
  • Monzo hires Conor Walsh as its new US CEO having recently served as Head of Global Product at Cash App.
  • Pathward hires Greg Sigrist as EVP and CFO beginning 11/1/23 as Glen Herrick plans to retire on 12/31/23.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Grow Credit (credit builder card platform) raised $10M in Series A funding round.
  • Stampli (AI-powered B2B payables automation platform) raised $61M in Series D funding.
  • Revio (sales and marketing enablement software for banks by analyzing customer transaction data) raised $2.5M in Series A funding round.
  • Rainforest (embedded payments for software platforms) raised $8.5M in Seed funding plus an additional $3.25M debt facility.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏈NFL Hall of Fame linebacker and Chicago Bears legend, Dick Butkus, passed away this week at the age of 80.  His legacy also carries on through the Butkus Award, which was founded in 1985 and is awarded every year to the best linebacker at the professional, college, and high school levels.  Did you know that he was married to his high school sweetheart, Helen, for 60 years?  Rest in peace Mr. Butkus, and thank you for the memories.
• And more football - 🏈🏈…  Down here in Texas, there is an annual occurrence each October shortly after the weather pattern changes that makes everyone a little bit more fidgety.  It’s a unique cultural phenomenon that stimulates the deepest of primal emotions, raises the hair on the back of your neck, and makes your heart race as goose bumps run down your arms…  It’s almost always accompanied by the sweet smell of BBQ smoke in the air; and gatherings of friends and loved ones – and for the moment, foes….  Yep, it’s the 2023 Red River Rivalry (those Twitter X and YouTube videos in that link are awesome), the annual college football matchup between Oklahoma and Texas – a rivalry that has been played uninterrupted since 1929 for a total of 118 games as of 2022, and the last of the Big 12 era as both teams depart to the SEC next year.
  • Even the SEC can’t wait as they released their OU vs Texas hype video - coming soon 2024…
• Playing chicken… 🐔🍗  Popeyes surpassed KFC to claim the #2 spot in the US chicken chain wars.  Worth noting, however, that both Popeyes and KFC have lost market share to a dominate #1 Chick-fil-A over the past year.  It’s good to be the king!
• Okay, okay – some quick Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • Is it bad if my life coach just told me I didn’t make the team??? 🤣
  • I bet Jellyfish are sad that there are no peanut butter fish….
  • This one comes in courtesy of my friend Cal Roberson…  “Did you hear about the girl who only eats plants?  You’ve probably never heard of herbivore…”  LOL – I love that one!!!  Thanks, Cal!!!
  • Ranchers keep accurate records of their herd by using a cowculator…. 🤠

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe – oh and…  BOOMER SOONER!!!  BEAT TEXAS!!!!
 
Uncle Sean
 
 
Sometimes known as Sean Mayo – contact me directly for scope and pricing of custom reports / analysis projects at smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
Crazy to think that we are closing out the third quarter and starting 4Q2023 already – time certainly goes by fast!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/29/23:
 

• BIG news from our friends at Atomic this week as they announced the launch of PayLink that streamlines payment switching, making it easier for consumers to switch their primary banking relationship.  Atomic's website does a great job of highlighting PayLink’s multiple use cases for Financial Institutions (“accelerate the path to primary customer status” – of HUGE importance to Direct Digital Banks), NeoBanks and FinTech companies, Credit Card Issuers (another huge win), and other industry partners as we move towards more of an open banking environment in the US; and empowering consumers with their own user-permissioned control.  Love it!!!!

 

• Another interesting product launch this week – Experian has joined the fintech brand space by launching Experian Smart Money™ mobile banking app with Mastercard debit card.  The cool feature of this app is that the bank account is automatically connected to Experian Boost® which searches certain debit transactions for automatic reporting to credit bureaus (such as rent, utilities, etc.) to help increase the customers credit score without the need to incur debt.  Very nice!!! 

 

• 👀 For my really wild finance and treasury freaks (you know who you are 😊 – as I look in the mirror and wink at myself - LOL)….  Increases at the longer end is beginning to flatten the yield curve.  The 10 Year Treasury yield has increased a whopping 17.7% YTD from a 12/29/22 closing of 3.879% to 4.567% at the close on 9/28/23….  Even more crazy than that is the realization that all of that has been over the last 60+ days (7/21 close was 3.837%) 😬 - source: cnbc.com/quotes/US10Y

 

• Biz2X (subsidiary of Biz2Credit) announced a new partnership with TAB Bank to streamline the banks SMB loan decisioning and operations.

 

• Credibly (SMB financing) announced the launch of Credibly Business Checking® via partnership with Green Dot Bank to add small business banking to complement Credibly’s existing lending solutions.

 

• Veem (global provider of business payable and receivable solutions) announced the launch of Visa virtual cards for small businesses in the US issued by Pathward and powered by Marqeta.

 

• Our friends at the OCC released their bank supervision operating plan for fiscal year (FY) 2024.  Pretty easy read at only 5 pages - Couple of key items that jumped out at me:
  • No real surprise that asset and liability management takes center stage with an emphasis on managing interest rate and liquidity risks.
  • From an operations standpoint, third-party relationships are a hot topic “particularly those with financial technology (fintech) companies” - and also specifically mentioning “banking-as-a-service arrangements” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean).

 

• FDIC Chair Martin Gruenberg stated that changes to deposit insurance amounts unlikely at a conference this week.  “While there was considerable interest in the immediate aftermath of the bank failures earlier this year, that has dissipated with time. At this point, there does not seem to be any imminent likelihood of changes to deposit insurance coverage in the U.S.,” Gruenberg said.

 

• Monit announced the integration with Narmi’s Business Digital Banking platform as a white-labeled solution to offer modern cash flow tools and insights to SMB clients.

 

• Deluxe partners with Aliaswire, Inc. to integrate Aliaswire’s DirectBiller bill payment technology across the extensive Deluxe network of banks, partners, and direct clients.

 

• Camino Financial (CDFI) and Fundation announced they are merging to create a new, full spectrum SMB lender providing credit solutions to fund the growth of small businesses.

 

• As a government shutdown appears inevitable, it certainly comes at an awkward time (I guess there isn’t really a “good” time) as the next FOMC meeting to discuss interest rates is Oct 31 – Nov 1 considering much of the economic data that the FOMC uses to set interest rate policy comes from government entities…  This includes:
  • The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is the hub of much of the government's data and will “completely cease operations” in the event of a shutdown, sending all 2,350 employees home.
  • The Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) will also shut down.
    • Means no CPI, Jobs Report, weekly jobless claims, PCE, GDP, etc….
  • Aside from the above government programs, perhaps the most concerning is the furlough 80% of staff from the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency degrading its ability to provide timely and actionable information to help partner organizations defend their computer networks per this Department of Homeland Security FACT SHEET.  YIKES!!!!

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Bright Money raised $62M in funding consisting of $50M in debt financing and a $12M Series B equity round.
  • PortX (financial services infrastructure) raised $16.5M in Series B round and forms a CUSO subsidiary for Credit Unions.
  • Slope (B2B payments) raised $30M in equity round $30M in equity round adding that “both volume and company revenue have increased 17x since last year.”

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Usher to headline the 2024 Super Bowl halftime show.
• Have you heard about the saltwater wedge in the Mississippi River?  Pretty wild, and another impact from our historic drought conditions in the upper Mississippi River Valley.
• Okay – some quick Dad / bad jokes to kick off the weekend:
  • There is nothing more magical than hearing a child’s laugh….  Unless you are home alone! 😲
  • Never yell into a colander….  You’ll strain your voice…
  • I don’t know why the chicken crossed the road…  But the rooster joined a band because he had drumsticks…. 🐓
  • Not to brag too much, but the credit card company told me that my balance was outstanding….  Well, thank you! 😝

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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!!!
 
Ahhh – welcoming the first day of fall this Saturday (autumnal equinox) – but it’s still 100 degrees here in Texas!!! 🥵  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/22/23:
 

• High-fives all around as the BHB Fund welcomes Legend Bank, Texas First Bank, and National Bank and Trust as community bank investors in the BHB Fund independently managed by Latitude38 Venture Partners!!!!

 

• Very important especially for my friends (both bankers AND fintech companies) working on 2024 budgets right now….  It’s Fed Week!!!  As the market expected, the FOMC voted to hold rates steady at the current 5.25% – 5.5% Fed Funds rate..  I admit it, I was among the 1% that thought they would go ahead and raise rates 25 bps – but I broke my crystal ball years ago…. LOL!!!  Hugely important (IMO) - keep in mind that the current quantitative tightening continues (QT – a/k/a “shrinking the Fed Balance Sheet”) related to reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at the current rate of $60B in Treasuries and $35B in MBS per month per the policy Implementation Note.  Couple of key points:
  • Here is the transcript of Chair Powell's Press Conference (27 pages); and here is the video (55 minutes).
    • Worth noting the phrase “proceed carefully” was the theme and specifically mentioned multiple times – I don’t think this was unintentional…. 😊
  • And here is the infamous FOMC Summary of Economic Projections (dot plot) that shows the majority of participants believe it will be appropriate to raise rates one more time before YE; and does not show core PCE inflation subsiding to the targeted 2.0% until 2025-2026.
    • Chair Powell has been reiterating “higher for longer” for about a year now…  Pretty sure we should start to believe him now – LOL!!!

 

• Some solid macroeconomic analysis coming out of Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) Group.  Key points:
  • Mild recessionary contraction in 1H2024 remains likely forecast outcome as inflation and labor markets cool.
    • Housing faces mortgage rate headwinds (shocking, right!!!  LOL) but downside appears limited; and personal consumption is outpacing income growth.

 

• 👀 All of the above economic updates come during the same week that the U.S. national debt hits $33 trillion for the first time ever….. 😬

 

• DCI partners with Array to offer Array’s credit management and financial progress tools to DCI’s community banks in order to help the bank’s retail customers “monitor their credit, benefit from anti-fraud identity monitoring, and access actionable credit-based offers.”

 

• DCI gets a two-fer this week by also announcing a new interface with Hawthorn River to DCI's iCore360 core platform enabling DCI bankers “to look up customer information in real-time when originating a loan, eliminating the need to rekey information. To further support an integral part of the lending process, when a loan is ready to be boarded on iCore360, the banker can automatically book the loan details with the click of a button. Additionally, a rules engine enables transactions to be automatically coded so that regulatory reports are more accurate.”

 

• Cha-ching!!!  Bank of America increases US minimum hourly wage to $23 on its stated path to $25 by 2025.

 

• BMO is partnering with DailyPay to provide EWA to employees of BMO’s commercial clients allowing for real-time access to wages earned.

 

• Varo Bank (FDIC 59190) announced the launch of Varo to Anyone, an instant fully FDIC insured P2P function at no cost “to anyone with a U.S. bank account, no matter where they bank, by allowing access to phone contacts or inputting the recipient's U.S. phone number or email manually. After sending the money, the recipient will get a text or email notification about the payment with instructions on receiving their funds by entering their debit card information in Varo Bank's portal.” 
  • Based on my very limited research here, this looks like a “push to card” or “push to debit” application (think of this like a typical debit card transaction – but in reverse) that effectively creates an open-loop P2P transaction.  Many other P2P applications requires both the sender and the receiver to download and use the same app (thus being a closed-loop solution).
  • I’ve been waiting to see broader acceptance of this for a while (many other institutions offer push to card solutions, I just haven’t seen widespread adoption yet).
    • Both Mastercard (via Mastercard Send) and Visa (through Visa Direct) support push to card.

 

• Dwolla makes senior leadership changes as current President and COO Dave Glasser replaces Brady Harris in the CEO role; and Skyler Nesheim, previously Dwolla’s SVP of Technology, was named Chief Technology Officer.

 

• Square CEO Alyssa Henry is stepping down according to an SEC filing late Monday by Square’s parent company (Block), with co-founder Jack Dorsey to step into the role.

 

• Brex announced the launch of Brex Assistant utilizing AI to automate expense information, answer certain questions, and respond to commands with simple prompts.

 

• Black Knight Origination rebrands as Dark Matter Technologies after being acquired into the Perseus Operating Group of Constellation Software Inc.

 

• Finli announces integration with Q2's Digital Banking Platform via the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program.

 

• The FDIC released SOD data for branch office deposits as of June 2023 for each of the 77,000+ branches in the U.S.

 

• Stearns Bank (FDIC 10988) partners with Synctera (BaaS infrastructure platform) to expand their existing BaaS line of business.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Vero Technologies (wholesale financing i.e. “floor plan” and loan servicing platform) raised $8.5M in Series A funding round to accelerate the growth of its lending-as-a-service offering for banks.
  • Flex (f/k/a Flexbase – banking and treasury management for SMBs) raised $120M in new capital consisting of a $20M equity round and $100M in debt financing; and announced the launch of its Flex Credit Card.
  • ZayZoon (EWA platform) raised $34.5M in Series B round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Dumb Uncle Sean story - these are always entertaining (and apparently there is no shortage of these moments - HaHaHa)…. Earlier this week, I had the honor and privilege of attending and presenting at DCI’s Annual Conference (which was amazing) in Overland Park, Kansas.  After an uneventful plane ride from Austin, TX that included an “open-mouth nap” to which I did in fact wake myself up snoring (yep – I was “that guy” – LOL), I landed in Kansas City.  Hopped in my Uber and made my way to the Convention Center to check in to my hotel.  The very nice lady at the desk asked for my ID to check in and that’s when it happened….  I opened my wallet and my drivers license was not there…  After about a second of staring unbelievingly at the empty plastic that once held my license, I remembered that I had taken it out in Austin and put it in my pocket.  Whew…  Now slightly amused with my newfound confidence that I remembered where my ID was, I placed my hand into my pocket and…..  Oh crap….  It’s not there…. Quick check the other pocket (as my pulse begins to increase and I feel a warm sensation in the back of my neck – this is the panic starting to set in)…  Nope not there either.  Check the wallet again just in case it somehow magically reincarnated back to where it was supposed to be….  Nope….  Oh lord….  Yep, my palms are starting to sweat and my mouth is getting dry - LOL…  Now I am frantically digging through my laptop bag to no avail…  Brief moment of reassurance as the nice lady at the hotel desk said I could just show my debit card with my name on it (fortunately I hadn’t lost that too).  She recommended that I call the Uber driver as this happens a lot….  Come to think of it, I remember taking my phone out of my pocket in the Uber and I bet that is when it fell out…  I hope…  Because if not, I’m dead.  So I frantically try to figure out how to contact the Uber driver - you have to go through the app, you cant just call them direct.  Now I am fumbling around trying to figure out how to use the app to tell them I may have left my identification in the car (you have to leave your phone number with permission for the driver to contact you)….  Now we wait….  And now my mind begins to go into anxiety overdrive (overthinking is what I do on a normal day – so you know this just got really special - LOL!!!)…  What if I lost it at the airport?  What if it is on the airplane?  How do I get home?  You can’t get on a plane without an ID.  Heck, you cant rent a car without a drivers license…  Do I pay someone to fly to Kansas to pick me up and drive me home?  Oh lord, how much will Uber charge me to drive me from Kansas to Austin, TX????  (if you can’t tell by this point, I am rather stressed out – heart rate is running about 175 right now).  Wait – my phone is buzzing….  Oh thank God it’s the Uber driver and he has my Drivers License….  WHEW!!!!  Yes, I tipped him very graciously and thanked him to the point that I think I was freaking him out a little…  LOL!!!!  The rest of the trip was fantastic…  Hopefully this true story brightened your day and made you laugh!  😊 😂
• Rough week in cybercrime….  Caesars paid millions in ransomware…  Hotel and casino giant MGM Resorts has confirmed a “cybersecurity issue” is to blame for an ongoing outage…  Clorox reported that a cybersecurity act causing “widescale disruption” of operations and product availability resulting “material” to the company’s first-quarter financial results.
  • Meanwhile, Cisco announced the acquisition of Splunk, a leading cybersecurity firm, for a cool $28 Billion in cash (Cisco’s largest acquisition ever).
• Yep – it’s that time….  Time for some Dad / bad jokes:
  • Inflation and interest rates are so high, I’m putting a vending machine in my front yard for Halloween….  Sorry little Johnny – I got bills to pay! 😝
  • If we’re not supposed to have midnight snacks, then why is there a light in the fridge?
  • Pro tip on how to keep cookies fresh – eat them all at once.  🤓
  • I’d give my right arm to be ambidextrous…. 
  • I have a question about raising teenagers – and that question is….  WTF???  😂🤣

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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.