​Happy Friday!!!
 
Just a heads-up that there won’t be an Uncle Sean Update next week as we take some time off to celebrate and honor our Memorial Day heroes that paid the ultimate price. 🎖️   Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 5/16/25:
 
Kicking this week off with some really cool economic updates (scroll on down if this isn’t your cup of tea – but you know how much Uncle Sean loves to geek out on macroeconomic data - 🤓):
 

• The BLS April CPI Report came in at 2.3% which is the lowest since Feb 2021 when inflation skyrocketed from Covid (March was 2.4% which was the lowest reading since March 2021).  Core CPI was 2.8% (same as March).  CNBC has a pretty good summary.

 

• The FDIC published their 2025 Risk Review (which is a review of market and credit risks to banks as of the end of 2024) with some very cool graphs…  TLDR Punchline:
  • Economic conditions remained solid and the banking industry was resilient in 2024 despite an inverted yield curve and higher interest rates.
  • Unrealized losses on securities remain elevated due to longer-term interest rates (30yr mortgage and 10yr Treasury) being higher than they were in 2023 (more on this in a minute from the Office of Financial Research)…
    • Although there was no mention of this (scope was 2024), Student Loan performance is something Uncle Sean is keeping an eye on as collections on student debt resumed on May 5th for the first time since March 2020 (but credit reporting has already started)….  Could potentially have a broader impact on overall consumer credit quality going forward.

 

• The New York Fed published their Q1 2025 Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit (more really cool charts – you know I love it 😊)…  TLDR Punchline:
  • Aggregate household debt continues to increase…  Up to $18.2T as of 1Q2025…  A 0.9% increase from 4Q2024 (and up about 28.7%, or $4.06T from 4Q2019 before the pandemic).
  • 👀 And here are those pesky Student Loans…  Outstanding student debt stood at $1.63T at 1Q2025 (for comparison, all CC balances are $1.18T).  Missed federal student loan payments that were not previously reported to credit bureaus between 2Q2020 and 4Q2024 are now appearing in credit reports (as Scooby-Doo would say, “Ruh Roh!!!”). Consequently, 7.7% of aggregate student debt was reported 90+ days delinquent in 1Q2025 compared to less than 1% reported in 4Q2024. 😬😲

 

• An last but not least, the Office of Financial Research published a really good (and short) blog on The State of Banks' Unrealized Securities Losses (yep, you guessed it – more cool graphs and great analysis! 😊)…  TLDR Punchline:
  • It’s not just unrealized losses on securities; it’s the composition (mix) of those securities that are proving to be “sticky” related to negative performance in conjunction with longer term rates (i.e. 10yr + Treasury rates).  Unrealized securities losses could persist for some time even if/when the Fed lowers rates.
    • 👉 Residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) followed closely by Treasuries make up a substantial portion of banks’ securities portfolios.  Most RMBS have maturities greater than 15 years coupled with negative convexity (yes, I had to look that up - LOL) making their price less sensitive to decreasing rates. The longer average maturity of RMBS coupled with higher 10-year Treasury yields may account in part for why unrealized securities losses persist.
      • In summary - “While the Federal Reserve can influence short-term interest rates by adjusting the federal funds rate, long-term interest rates reflect financial market participants’ expectations of inflation and willingness to accept the risk of lending long term. The magnitude of future unrealized securities gains or losses will depend on the trajectory of long-term interest rates, related hedging, and the duration of banks’ securities portfolios. Market supply and demand can also affect the value of the securities, independent of the direction of interest rates.”
        • 😉 Of course this is all assuming the Federal Reserve doesn’t go on another QE bond buying spree targeting the longer end of the yield curve (artificial demand to push rates down)… 🤷‍♂️

 
 
Now, back to the rest of the update!!! 😊
 

• Finally….  Chime has filed to go public on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “CHYM” – Banking Dive has a good article; and you can check out their full S-1 filing here.  I’ll let you be the judge on the financial stability of a (primarily) interchange based revenue model; and subsequent valuation 🤐...  However, here are a few cool BaaS updates in the S-1:
  • “The Bancorp Bank MSA has an initial 60-month term ending in July 2028, while the Stride Agreements each have initial 36-month terms ending in November 2025. Our bank partner agreements automatically renew for successive one-year periods unless either party provides written notice of non-renewal, which can be provided without cause to the other party at least 365 days, in the case of the Bancorp MSA, and at least 180 days, in the case of the Stride Agreements, prior to the end of any such term, or unless earlier terminated for cause.”
  • “…transactions have historically been processed by Galileo Financial Technologies, LLC (“Galileo”), a third-party payment processor, though we are in the process of transitioning our members’ transactions to being processed by ChimeCore; as of the end of 2024, we had transitioned all credit card transactions to being processed by ChimeCore, while all debit card transactions were still processed by Galileo.”
    • ChimeCore is their proprietary payment processor and ledger – also has proprietary AI and ML model helping to reduce fraud loss.

 

• Acorns (savings and investing app) has acquired EarlyBird, an investment gifting platform for families…
  • 🤔 IMO (even though nobody asked me 😊) - This appears to be an acquihire (acquisition based on the HR talent, not so much the tech or product platform) as “EarlyBird will shut down, and all customer accounts will officially close on June 23. Customers’ funds will be returned to the bank account connected to their account.”  The PR goes on to state that EarlyBird users will not be able transfer their funds directly to Acorns, but will need to withdraw their funds from EarlyBird and open a new account with Acorns if they want to join.
    • EarlyBird CEO and co-founder Jordan Wexler and co-founder Caleb Frankel will join the Acorns team to help build out Acorns Early (which was part of the GoHenry acquisition announced back in April 2023).

 

• SavvyMoney acquires CreditSnap strengthening its ability to work alongside existing LOS and account opening systems.  Per the PR – “Financial institutions can now offer a seamless, end-to-end experience by leveraging SavvyMoney’s demand-generation capabilities in conjunction with CreditSnap’s flexible integration process. From personalized credit insights to frictionless application and booking, allowing every integration to work with one unified platform.”

 

• More developments in the SMB space…  Square debuted Square Releases, a bi-annual product launch summary; and also revealed Square Handheld – a pocket-sized portable POS device equipped with integrated barcode scanner and camera. 💥

 

• First Business Bank (FDIC 15229; total assets $3.9B) partners with CorServ to issue commercial, business and consumer credit cards.  By utilizing CorServ’s hybrid issuing model (opposed to an Agent Bank referral mode), the bank is able to “gain more control over their credit card program, participate in credit decisioning and strengthen relationships with their customers.”

 

• Clearview Federal Credit Union (charter 9007; total assets $2B) partners with MANTL to enhance its business and consumer account opening experience “across all banking channels, including online, mobile app, in-field, and across its branch network.”
  • “By integrating MANTL with its Jack Henry Symitar core, Clearview will now be able to automate over 85% of deposit application decisions, including KYC, AML, BSA, product service ordering, funding, and core booking, to create efficiencies and keep manual processes to a minimum.”

 

• Speaking of Jack Henry…  SouthTrust Bank, N.A. (FDIC 13919; total assets $552M) selects Jack Henry for core and digital to fuel the banks growth and innovation efforts – targeting $2B in assets over the next decade.
  • 👉 Perhaps more importantly, the incumbent core processor had a strategic position within the bank (same vendor for core, online, and mobile), so displacing this vendor was no easy task.  PLUG TIME!!!! 😊 For more info here – contact our very own Mr. Bobby Button and ask about our Fintegration Ecosystem© covering the full vendor tech stack for every bank and credit union in the U.S.

 

• Costco (NASDAQ: COST) and Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) partner together to launch buy now pay later option for online orders – allowing Costco members shopping online to use Affirm at checkout to pay over time without any late or hidden fees.

 

• Byline Bank (FDIC 20624; total assets $9.6B) announced the expansion of its Payments and Fintech Banking group, “including several key new hires and leadership appointments, which underscore the bank’s significant investment in embedded finance and modern digital payment solutions.”  🚀

 

• Greenlight (family banking app) announced the launch of Family Shield, “its newest subscription plan designed to help caregivers protect seniors from financial fraud and ensure their physical safety. This first-of-its-kind product streamlines financial account monitoring and alerts, provides protections against fraud (including deceptive transfer fraud), identity theft, and money management errors, and offers remote features to help ensure senior safety.”  Nice!!!! 👏

 

• Zoho (business platform for CRM, payroll, workflows, and more) launched Zoho Payments, “a unified payment solution that helps businesses collect payments online using multiple payment methods like cards and ACH. The solution offers native payments capabilities within Zoho, enabling businesses to manage payments directly within their existing financial workflows.”

 

• 😬 Coinbase hack…  In a company blog, Coinbase said criminals targeted its own overseas customer support agents with cash offers and was able to obtain limited customer data; and then tried to extort Coinbase for $20 million to cover this up.  Instead, Coinbase is offering a $20M reward for the arrest and conviction of the criminals. 👍              
  • Per this 8-k filing, while Coinbase “has preliminarily estimated expenses to be within the range of approximately $180 million to $400 million relating to remediation costs and voluntary customer reimbursements relating to this Incident, prior to further review of potential losses, indemnification claims, and potential recoveries, which could meaningfully increase or decrease this estimate.”

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Stash (personal finance app including banking, investing, and advice) raised $146M in Series H funding round to expand its AI capabilities to further boost product development as the company looks to "drive subscriber growth".
  • FlexPoint (payments platform for managed service providers) raised $12M in Series A round citing “revenue growth of nearly 4x year over year, FlexPoint is trusted by over 40,000 businesses with their payments.”

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• WOW – this update really wore me out!  But I thoroughly enjoyed that RMBS securities analysis from the OFR if you couldn’t tell (nerd alert!!!). 😂  So let’s just jump right into the good stuff and close this week out (I see a cold beer 🍺 in my immediate future)!!!
  • And here is the good stuff!!!  Everyone’s favorite part of the Update - the Dad / Bad Jokes:
    • Never play tennis with a cymbal…  It makes a terrible racket! 😏
    • When I want to feel cultured, I eat yogurt! 🤠
    • Olive’s really should have been called “Greece’s Pieces”… 🤔😜
    • Dogs aren’t the only animal you can train.  I had a goldfish that could breakdance on the carpet…  But only for like 20 seconds. 🐟🕺🤣
    • Remember when we used to laugh at the commercial “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”?  Yeah, not so funny anymore… 😬😅

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and an even greater Memorial Day weekend since I won’t be posting next week.  Oh – 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 Mother’s Day wishes to all the Mom’s this weekend ❤️❤️❤️!!!  Keeping this week short and sweet so we can begin the weekend celebrations!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 5/9/25:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  As expected, the FOMC unanimously voted to maintain the fed funds rate at 4.25% - 4.50% as the hard data continues to show an economy that is in a solid position, plus continued uncertainty over tariff policies.  Powell stated, “The risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation appear to have risen, and we believe that the current stance of monetary policy leaves us well positioned to respond in a timely way to potential economic developments.”
  • If you want more info – here is Chairman Powell’s Press Conference Transcript (25 pages); as well as the video (47:46).

 

• 💪 Check out my friends over at FIntegrate Technology as they reported nearly 80% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2025 compared to 1Q2024 helping FI’s manage credit and collections, dispute management, and data migration (FusionCRS, FusionDMS, and Fusion LRS solutions).  Congrats!!!! 🚀

 

• OakNorth Bank (London, England) announced they have surpassed $1 Billion in lending to US businesses since July 2023, marking another major milestone in its US expansion.
  • Keep in mind that OakNorth recently announced the acquisition of Community Unity Bank (FDIC 59305; total assets $67M) to further expand their US presence.
    • Okay – I admit it…  I was going to say something like “the British are coming!” – but I felt it would be in poor taste (see what I did there!)….  😅😬

 

• Santander Bank (FDIC 29950; total assets $105B) is closing 18 US branches by August as part of its ongoing digital strategy.  Recall back in early February where we talked about Santander’s new Direct Digital Bank, OpenBank, had hit $2B in deposits after only opening a few months prior in October!!! 💥
  • Ahh – but this whole internet thing is just a fad… 😂🤣

 

• 👉 Congratulations to Autobooks as they have acquired Allied Payment Network adding business bill pay to their existing suite of invoicing, bill pay, and accounting in one seamless platform.
  • Per this Autobooks blog post, “With the acquisition of Allied Payment Network, Autobooks gains a robust bill pay infrastructure that currently supports over 500 financial institutions, 150,000 customers, and processes more than $5 billion in payments each year. But this move is about more than scale — it’s about creating the first true all-in-one platform for small businesses. By integrating receivables, payables, accounting, and cash flow management directly into digital banking, we’re delivering a more seamless and complete financial experience for both institutions and their business customers.”
    • Also worth noting that Autobooks picked up $40M in fresh capital to support its continued expansion, including the acquisition of Allied Payment Network.

 

• CPI Card Goup announced the acquisition of Arroweye Solutions, Inc. for $45.55M in an all-cash transaction.  Per the PR, “The addition of Arroweye’s on-demand payment card solutions to CPI’s portfolio of payment card production, personalization, instant issuance, prepaid, and digital solutions will allow CPI to offer more choices to a larger combined base of thousands of customers. In addition, CPI anticipates leveraging its resources and market position to increase Arroweye’s share and expand penetration of its solutions to new customers. Arroweye’s revenues are expected to be in the mid-$50 million range in 2025, on an annualized basis.”

 

• Numerica Credit Union (charter 66841; total assets $4.1B) partners with MANTL for business and consumer account opening with full integration with its Jack Henry Symitar core.

 

• Blend Labs (NYSE: BLND) announced a new integration with Glia embedding Glia’s chat, voice, video and AI tools directly into Blend’s Digital Banking platform for FI’s.
  • “This seamless, in-application support is powered by Glia’s ChannelLess® Architecture, which unifies voice, digital service and AI into a single experience—eliminating data silos and preserving context across every interaction. Financial institutions can engage customers across devices, personalize support at scale and maximize both efficiency and satisfaction. For example, if a borrower encounters a question about required documentation, clicking the 'Let's Talk!' icon instantly opens a chat window with a loan specialist, all without navigating away from their application.”  Nice!!! 👍

 

• Perpay selects Marqeta to power the Perpay Credit Card (issued by Celtic Bank), a leading unsecured credit card designed to help people build or improve their credit by automating payments directly from a paycheck.

 

• Freedom Bank (FDIC 58010; total assets $140M) selects Vine Financial’s commercial lending technology allowing its bankers and borrowers to collaborate more effectively (including automation of many manual tasks) from application to close via AI-powered financial spreading, customer loan workflows, and document generation capabilities.

 

• Samsung is adding a new Tap to Transfer feature, as part of the Samsung Wallet and powered by Green Dot Arc, to enable fast peer-to-peer (P2P) payments to other digital wallets or contactless debit cards, with additional features and functionality planned.

 

• Verifone and Stripe announced a strategic partnership where “Stripe services will natively run on Verifone payment devices, offering Stripe customers even more flexibility and choice in deploying durable and performant in-person payments. The partnership will also expand Verifone’s reach to a new base of modern, fast-growing businesses seeking enterprise-grade hardware and global payment capabilities.”

 

• 👀 Upstart (Nasdaq: UPST; an AI lending marketplace) has signed a 1-yr deal with OnePay (Walmart Fintech arm)  Per this Upstart 8-K, “…Upstart and OnePay will collaborate on co-branded offerings, including co-branded direct mail campaigns.  Upstart does not expect the partnership to have a material impact on its financial condition or results of operations for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.”

 

• Some interesting personnel moves:
  • It’s official…  Fiserv (NYSE: FI) announced Michael P. Lyons has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Fiserv after the confirmation of Frank Bisignano, Fiserv’s prior CEO, as Commissioner of the Social Security Administration.
  • BILL (NYSE: BILL) appointed Mike Cieri as EVP, GM of Software Solutions to lead and drive software strategy across the BILL platform, reporting directly to CEO and Founder, René Lacerte.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Rippling (global workforce management solution) raised a massive $450M in Series G funding round at an incredible $16.8B valuation.  CHA-CHING!!!! 💰💰💰
  • Agree.com (AI-powered e-signature platform that includes invoicing and payment processing) raised $7.2M Seed Round to compete in the e-signature and B2B payments space as a differentiator.
  • Glide (embedded finance infrastructure for FI’s) $15M Series A to expand its product roadmap, scale its AI capabilities, and expand its world-class team.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, 69, was elected as the 267th leader of the Catholic Church as Pope Leo XIV — the first-ever American pope (although he has lived abroad most of his life in service of others and holds dual citizenship)!!!  Pope Leo XIV has a fascinating story (check out this CBS Report), and apparently per his brother’s clarification – is actually a Chicago White Sox fan. ⚾  It’s okay pontiff – nobody’s perfect! 😲😬😅🙏

• Okay, let’s close this week out and kick Mother’s Day weekend into high gear!!! 🍷🎉❤️  Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • Sometimes, just to annoy my therapist, I ask: “So, how does my lack of progress make you feel?” 😂🤪
  • I had a dream I was at work…  So when I woke up I called in sick…  Ain’t no way I’m working twice in one day!!! 🚫😊
  • We used to just have village idiots…  But now with the internet, they’ve gone global! 🌎🤷‍♂️😅
  • And last but not least…  ChatGPT asks Chuck Norris questions… 🤠

 
Have a WONDERFUL Mother’s Day 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!!!
 
I can’t believe it is May already – certainly hoping the proverbial April showers do indeed bring May flowers!!! 😊🌻🌷  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 5/2/25:
 
👀 With plenty of eyes on the FOMC meeting next week (5/6-7), here is a quick look at some economic updates this week:
 

• First quarter advance estimate for GDP came in at -0.3% (+0.1% expected, +2.4% prior) - the first negative GDP rating since 1Q2022.  However, a substantial pull-in of imports (negative to GDP) due to presumed tariff concerns impacted GDP by -5.03%.
  • When pulling out many of the Liberation Day anomalies, “Real Final Sales to Private Domestic Purchasers” was 3.0% versus 2.9% in 4Q2024.

 

• The BLS April Jobs Report came in with a solid 177,000 jobs added (138K expected, March was revised down by 43K to 185K; and Feb was revised down by 15K to 102K); and the unemployment rate unchanged at 4.2% (as expected and 4.2% previously).  Yahoo Finance has a good summary.
  • Keep in mind that employees on paid leave or receiving ongoing severance pay are counted as employed – so the full effect of DOGE reductions may not be captured until late this summer (paid administrative leave through Sept. 30).

 
More interesting merger news (and a CU liquidation):
 

• 👉 Another CU acquisition of a bank…  This week it is Frontier Credit Union (Charter 68376; total assets $698M) to acquire First Citizens Bank of Butte (FDIC 22502; total assets $75M).
  • If you are keeping score, this is now the 6th announced CU acquisition of a bank for 2025.  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019. Source: FedFis Bank M&A data.
    • 💥 Warning – here comes an Uncle Sean “off the rails” moment with some unsolicited commentary and speculation…  I haven’t seen anyone else post about the financial structure yet, so here goes…
      • “Comparatively speaking”…  This CU appears to be struggling with some asset quality issues in their concentrated indirect automobile loan portfolio.  They have a “relatively” poor liquidity position, high net charge-offs and delinquencies, a comparatively weak capital position in relation to amount of delinquent loans and loan loss allowance, and poor profitability (again, all relatively speaking).  Also carrying $28M in other borrowed funds even though Total Loans/Shares & Deposits is only at 89%.
      • The target bank is an old bank (est. 1977) to have only $75M in total assets – so I am assuming that succession planning is probably a determining factor in their decision to sell.
        • Uncle Sean’s opinion – this is a way for the CU to pick up some cash to help with liquidity (the bank has $18M in cash) plus another $22M in AFS securities (mostly treasuries at 1-3 years per RC-B so this sets them up nicely if the FOMC cuts rates in the next couple of quarters after mark-to-market merger accounting adjustments).  Also allows for low cost deposit grab at 1.75% for IB deposits ($53M worth) as well as a $33M loan portfolio comprised mostly of 1-4 (which the CU is familiar with) that includes a small amount of C&I ($4.6M) – also with mostly short dated repricing tenors.  This also allows the CU to further diversify away from their concentration of new and used vehicle loans – which has been a bit of an underwriting problem.  Worth noting that the target bank is running 7% yield on loans (10% for C&I) with a 4.03% NIM.
          • Don’t get me wrong – I’m all for free markets and I don’t have a dog in the “tax exempt CU acquisition of tax paying bank” fight…  But it does “feel” wrong to lose an FDIC charter to prop up a CU that is struggling with indirect automobile loan performance. 🤷‍♂️
            • 🤔 Maybe CU’s that acquire banks should do so in a reverse merger style and lose their NCUA charter and have to adopt the FDIC charter and taxable status going forward????  Just thinking out loud (which pretty much always gets me in trouble – LOL!!!)…  Send me an email or comment on LinkedIn and let me know your thoughts!!!! 🤙

 

• This one is cool to me a I spent many years running around Central and South-central Oklahoma in my younger days (fond memories for sure; and I love that Arbuckle Mountain area and the CNRA)…  Chickasaw Banc Holding Company (FR 3045721), bank subsidiary is Chickasaw Community Bank (Native American bank; FDIC 11521; total assets $549M) to acquire Oklahoma Heritage Bank (FDIC 22855; total assets $101M) headquartered in Roff, OK (which is just up the road from Sulphur, OK in case you were wondering 😊).

 

• First National Bank of Omaha (FDIC 5452; total assets $31.8B) to acquire Country Club Bank (FDIC 8888; total assets $2.2B) headquartered in Kansas City, MO – bringing together two privately owned institutions with multi-generational family leadership.

 

• Cadence Bank (NYSE: CADE; FDIC 11813 – no BHC) to acquire Industry Bancshares, Inc. (FR 2112439), a multi-bank holding company of Texas banks, in an all-cash transaction “between $20M and $60M” based on Industry Bancshares’ equity capital at the closing of the transaction. 
  • Yes, that’s more than just a little odd; and this Banking Dive article spells it out as “unique.”  Here is some additional detail from call report data (source: FedFis Bank Analyst platform) due to securities portfolio issues (AOCI losses) with the bank subsidiaries that helps to clear up the “unique” nature of the purchase price 😲:
    • Citizens State Bank (FDIC 12501; total assets $1.13B; total AOCI -$206.5M; total equity -$44M)
    • Bank of Brenham, NA (FDIC 57102; total assets $620M; total AOCI -$102M; total equity -$21M)
    • Fayetteville Bank (FDIC 3195; total assets $630M; total AOCI -$116M; total equity -$35M)
    • Industry State Bank (FDIC 12506; total assets $790M; total AOCI -$140M; total equity $7.7M)
    • The First National Bank of Bellville (FDIC 3099; total assets $731M; total AOCI -$124M; total equity -$26.5M)
    • The First National Bank of Shiner (FDIC 5529; total assets $813M; total AOCI -$159M; total equity -$44.2M)

 

• The NCUA closed Unilever Federal Credit Union (charter 5736; total assets $46.7M as of 12/31/24 call report) via involuntary liquidation and discontinued its operations after determining the credit union was insolvent and had no prospect for restoring viable operations.
  • It’s not completely unheard of, but it is somewhat rare that a CU is liquidated prior to going into conservatorship.  Looking back, there have only been 5 examples of this since 2019 (one was fraud) with the largest being $12M in total assets.  Smaller CU’s (less than $50M) can fail very fast.

 

• Flex (personal finance software for business owners) acquires Maza, a finance app designed for Spanish-speaking solopreneurs and consumers in the U.S..  Post closing, Maza will operate as Flex Consumer.

 
Core Processor headlines:
 

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) processes their first card-based payment transactions under their new Georgia merchant acquirer limited purpose bank charter (MALB).

 

• FIS (NYSE: FIS) announced the launch of its next-generation enterprise treasury platform, Treasury and Risk Manager – Quantum Cloud Edition.  “In addition to leveraging the power of the public cloud, this version of FIS’ treasury and risk management solution offers a new Liquidity Hub module for harnessing data from multiple sources – such as enterprise resource planning systems and bank APIs – to enable cash-management analysis in real time.”

 
Product launches and funding:
 

• Zest.ai announced their AI-automated underwriting and fraud detection platform is now integrated with Temenos Loan Origination solution.

 

• Kraken launches “embed” – its new Crypto-as-a-Service solution allowing for embedded de-fi within trad-fi…  (🤯 Oh my head 😅!!!)  All kidding aside – check out Kraken Embed to see how banks, fintechs and payment platforms use Kraken to launch regulated crypto quickly and seamlessly.  Kraken Embed is already live with Dutch neobank, bunq (which recently applied for broker dealer license in the US).

 

• Square expands banking services to give sellers instant access to their cash flow as well as free and easier ways to manage their earnings.

 

• Fasten launches the Fasten Rewards Visa credit card for auto-related rewards targeting dealerships as a distribution strategy.

 

• Xero small business platform launches US online bill payments powered by BILL.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Persona (the red-hot identity verification space) raised a $200M Series D round at a $2B valuation – CHA-CHING!!! 💰
  • Thunes (global cross-border payments) picked up a $150M Series D round to supercharge its expansion in the U.S.
  • Fundthrough (invoice factoring platform) raised $25M in Series B and subsequently announced the acquisition of Ampla (small business banking platform including lending).

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• We are live – oops, I mean “autonomous” LOL!!!  Aurora Innovation has successfully launched a commercial self-driving trucking service in Texas with the initial route between Dallas and Houston.
• To all my outdoor enthusiast and backyard birders, check out this app - https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/.  I downloaded this to my phone yesterday and really enjoy it.  It identifies birds by their call / sound  and provides pictures of the birds it identifies – super cool!!!  Special thanks to my friend and colleague, Mr. Rick Boals, for letting me know about this app! 😊 🐦
• And of course some obligatory Bad / Dad Jokes:
  • If time is money, does that mean ATM’s are time machines…??? 🤠
  • Apparently, Humpty Dumpty had a terrible winter…  Which sucks because I heard he had a great fall…  🤦‍♂️🙄
  • Universal parenting knowledge…  You can have kids, or you can have a complete and matching set of silverware.  You cannot have both! 🤣
  • A father noticed that his son was spending way too much time playing computer games, so he said, “Son, when Abe Lincoln was your age he spent his time studying books by the light of the fireplace.”  The son pondered this for a moment and replied, “When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was President of the United States.”  Well played young man, well played! 🏆

 
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!!!
 
Tell your friends to sign up here to join over 17,000 of your peers and get the Uncle Sean Update and the FinTech Cowboys interviews delivered straight to your inbox every week 🤠.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/25/25:
 
A quick look at some macroeconomic data:
 

• The Federal Reserve released the Beige Book - April 2025 with the theme “uncertainty around international trade policy was pervasive across reports” with some pull-in purchases ahead of anticipated tariff-related price increases.  Both leisure and business travel was down with several Districts noting a decline in international visitors.

 

• 🤐 Um, about those student loan payments…  The US Department of Education will resume federal student loan collections on May 5th.  The Department has not collected on defaulted loans since March 2020.  Per the PR:
  • Today, 42.7 million borrowers owe more than $1.6 trillion in student debt.
  • More than 5 million borrowers have not made a monthly payment in over 360 days and sit in default—many for more than 7 years—and 4 million borrowers are in late-stage delinquency (91-180 days). As a result, there could be almost 10 million borrowers in default in a few months. When this happens, almost 25 percent of the federal student loan portfolio will be in default.
  • Only 38 percent of borrowers are in repayment and current on their student loans.

 

• 👀 Looking ahead – next week brings some key data releases including GDP, PCE, and non-farm payrolls (jobs report).

 
The Merger Mania continues (not a holistic list for the week)!!!
 

• A CU mega-merger…  Wings Financial Credit Union (charter 68601; total assets $9.7B) entered into a merger of equals agreement to acquire Ent Credit Union (charter 68671; total assets $9.9B) effectively creating a combined proforma top 10 CU with approximately $20B in assets and almost 1 million members.  WOWZA!!!

 

• Columbia Banking System, Inc. (Nasdaq: COLB; FR 2078816), bank subsidiary is Umpqua Bank (FDIC 17266; total assets $52B), to acquire Pacific Premier Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: PPBI; FR 3489594), bank subsidiary is Pacific Premier Bank, National Association (FDIC 32172; total assets $18B) in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $2B.  CHA-CHING!!!! 💰💰💰

 

• And another CU acquisition of a bank…  This week, MIDFLORIDA Credit Union (charter 68600; total assets $8.1B) to acquire Prime Meridian Bank (FDIC 58694; total assets $975M) tying up a couple of FL institutions.
  • Worth noting that MIDFLORIDA is a serial bank acquirer and this marks their 3rd bank acquisition in 5 years.
  • This is now the 5th announced CU acquisition of a bank thus far for 2025.  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019.  Source: FedFis Bank M&A data.

 

• Eastern Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: EBC – bank subsidiary is Eastern Bank; FDIC 32773; total assets $26B) to acquire HarborOne Bancorp, Inc. (Nasdaq: HONE – bank subsidiary is HarborOne Bank; FDIC 59070; total assets $5.8B) in a mixed deal of cash and stock valued at approximately $490M.

 

• Feedzai (identity, fraud, and AML platform) acquires Demyst – thus accelerating “Feedzai's vision to unify data orchestration and risk management into a single platform, providing financial institutions with the real-time data, analytics, and trusted artificial intelligence they need to make the best possible risk decisions.”

 
Core Processor’s making headlines:
 

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) announced a plan to open a new strategic fintech hub in Overland Park, KS bringing 2,000 jobs to the area.  Located on the Aspiria campus at 6500 and 6550 Sprint Parkway in Overland Park, Kansas, the new site includes 427,000 square feet of space across two buildings.

 

• CSI announced the launch of its AI-powered AML compliance and fraud detection solutions: TruDetect and TruProtect powered by DATASEERS®.
  • Check out the TruDetect™ AML Solution which is live now with TruProtect rollout scheduled for later this year.  

 
Tech upgrades and divestitures:
 

• Southpoint Financial Credit Union (charter 68667; total assets $572M) selects MANTL for consumer and business new account opening (Deposit Origination) across all banking channels.  SouthPoint will also be part of the MANTL Loan Origination development partner program.

 

• Kirtland Credit Union (charter 12199; total assets $1.1B) selects Lumin Digital for its online and mobile banking services.

 

• NuMark Credit Union (charter 61447; total assets $878M) selects Alkami's Digital Banking Platform to enhance its online and mobile banking experience for both retail and business members.

 

• The Citizens State Bank of Ouray (FDIC 1779; total assets $204M) selects Apiture Digital Banking Platform to power digital banking as well as Apiture Digital Account Opening for both its consumer and business customers.

 

• MainStreet Bank (FDIC 57742; total assets $2.2B) to shut down Avenu, its embedded finance / BaaS subsidiary, after taking A $19.7M impairment charge in the 4th quarter reflecting the full capitalized intangible value of Avenu’s operating software (source - MNSB 4Q earnings release).

 
Partnerships, product launches, and more:
 

• Congrats to Thread Bank (FDIC 9499; total assets $768M) as they announce the opening of their new corporate headquarters for Thread Bancorp in Nashville, Tennessee. 👍

 

• Shout out to HC3 as a newly Endorsed Service Provider of the Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT).  NICE!!!! 👏

 

• 👉 SQN Banking Systems partners with RiskScout as its preferred BSA/AML compliance partner to deliver enhanced fraud and AML solutions for community banks.

 

• Pinwheel flexes 💪 with a couple of announcements this week:
  • First up is an integration with Q2’s Digital Banking Platform enabling banks and credit unions that are Q2 customers to embed 1-click deposit switching via Pinwheel’s platform.
  • Paychex will be joining the Pinwheel PreMatch network enabling millions of Paychex Flex® users to utilize Pinwheel’s deposit switch solution.

 

• Klarna and eBay expand on their global partnership by bringing Klarna’s BNPL and installment payment solutions to millions of eBay’s U.S. shoppers.

 

• FedNow® Service continues momentum in Q1 2025 – now with more than 1.300 participating financial institutions headquartered in all 50 states are live on the service today. Small and midsize financial institutions, including community banks and credit unions, make up more than 95% of participants on the network.  More than 1.3 million transactions were settled on the FedNow Service in the first quarter, a 43% increase over the prior quarter. Consumers and businesses sent an average of $540 million through the service per day.

 

• Crypto.com selects Bread Financial (NYSE: BFH; bank subsidiary and card issuer is Comenity Capital Bank - FDIC 57570; total assets $13.3B) to launch a Visa crypto-based rewards credit card in the U.S..

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • GreenFi (fka Aspiration) raised $17M Seed Round amid a relaunch as a climate-friendly consumer financial brand following the acquisition of Aspiration's consumer fintech division back in 2024.
  • Bloom Credit (consumer permissioned credit builder via existing recurring bill payment history) raised $10.5M in growth capital and announced a new partnership with Navy Federal Credit Union (charter 5536; total assets $181B).  NICE!!!!!
  • Alternative Payments (B2B payments and checkout infrastructure provider) raised $22M in Capital.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏈 ICYMI – Miami QB Cam Ward went #1 overall to the Tennessee Titans in the NFL Draft.  Check out the remaining first round pics here - 2025 NFL Draft first-round results.  Oh and I can’t help but mention the Dallas Cowboys picked up Alabama offensive lineman, Tyler Booker.  Just look at his smile – knowing he will have pretty much the whole month of January and early February off for the next several years….  OUCH!!!! 😅
• You made it – here are the Bad / Dad Jokes:
  • “Crappy Diem”….  What happens when you seize the wrong day. 😬
  • It has been reported that 80% of the ocean floor has not been explored…  Pretty sure there is a Dollar General down there somewhere! 🤔🙃
  • I don’t want to be overly dramatic, but the workweek continuously restarting is really getting annoying! 😂
  • And my favorite this week…  
    • Cajun word of the day is “tariff”….  As in, “mah pants might tariff I eat more crawfish pie!” 🤠🤣

 
 
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 Good Friday!!!
 
Happy Easter wishes to all!!! 🐰🐥  I hope everyone gets to spend some wonderful time with family and loved ones this Easter weekend!!! ❤️  It’s a smoking-hot news week, so let’s get to it!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/18/25:
 
Let’s kick this week off with some Merger Mania and key divestitures:
 

• 💥 Headlining this week is a bombshell announcement and significant market event in the payments space…  Global Payments (NYSE: GPN) announces agreements to acquire Worldpay from FIS and GTCR - and divest Issuer Solutions business to FIS.  There’s a lot to take in here, so let’s look at it from a very high level:
  • Worldpay was spun off from FIS back in 2023 as a stand-alone entity; and in July 2023, GTCR signed a definitive agreement to acquire a 55% majority stake in Worldpay from FIS (thus the Global Payments acquisition of Worldpay being from FIS and GTCR).
    • Side note..  For comparative PR purposes – Here is the merger PR from FIS as well as the PR from GTCR.
  • Now for the divestiture part from Global Payments…  Recall back in 2019 as part of the Payments Merger Frenzy days (more below) where Global Payments acquired TSYS processing solutions, well now they are selling that part of the business to FIS.  Here is some chronological perspective that might help clear things up (based on original announcement date):
    • Jan 2019 – Fiserv to acquire First Data.
    • Mar 2019 – FIS says “hold my beer” and acquires Worldpay.
    • May 2019 – Global Payments to acquire TSYS.
    • Feb 2023 – FIS spins off Worldpay as a separate entity and subsequently sells majority stake to GTCR.
    • Which brings us to the current Apr 2025 announcement of Global Payments acquisition of Worldpay from FIS and GTCR as well as the divestiture sale of the old TSYS processing business to FIS.
      • See – that wasn’t so bad, was it??? 🙃🤯
        • Giving credit where credit is due - Tanner Mayo has been talking about the “great unwinding to come” for a while now!

 

• Another CU acquisition of a bank…  Marion and Polk Schools Credit Union (charter 64166; total assets $1.4B) to acquire Lewis & Clark Bank (FDIC 58428; total assets $342M) in a local Oregon transaction.
  • This is the 4th announced CU acquisition of a bank thus far for 2025.  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019.  Source: FedFis Bank M&A data.
    • Lewis and Clark Bank recently announced their intention to exit BaaS as they were previously was using Solid as a middleware platform (now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy).
  • Unsolicited commentary warning… 😊  Of course no one asked me (LOL), but with bank stocks depressed and lingering unrealized losses in securities portfolios – Uncle Sean suspects we may see more of these CU purchases going forward due to the cash-basis nature of these acquisitions…  The flip side is also extremely relevant – when we finally due to come back to some sense of normalcy in bank stocks, it sure “feels like” there is a lot of pent up demand for bank to bank acquisitions…  Could be crazy 2H2025, but I broke (okay, smashed) my crystal ball years ago…  Time will tell… 🤷‍♂️

 

• 👉 Done deal…  Capital One gets the green light as they received approval from the OCC as well as approval from the Federal Reserve to acquire Discover Financial Services and thereby indirectly acquire Discover Bank.

 

• Trabian announced the acquisition of Mesh, a “comprehensive banking infrastructure platform that helps financial institutions and fintechs operate more efficiently, innovate faster, and adapt to evolving customer and market demands.”
  • “Mesh helps financial institutions and fintechs connect core systems, apps, and third-party services through its integration platform (iPaaS). The solution empowers teams to build on top of the core and seamlessly connect fintech partners.”

 

• Pipe acquires Glean.ai to bring together embedded capital and spend management for small businesses via its partners.

 

• 👀 Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) continues to build out their fintech and embedded finance offerings.  This week they announced they will acquire key technology and welcome talented team members from Deserve, a mobile-first fintech company providing credit solutions and program management.

 

• ICYMI…  Shazam announced they have sold their merchant services portfolio to NCMIC Finance per this press release earlier this month; allowing for Shazam to streamline its core business and focus on its debit rails.

 
And a host of new partnerships:
 

• Zions Bancorporation, N.A. (FDIC 2270; total assets $88.8B) selects nCino (Nasdaq: NCNO) as they digitally transform their loan origination process. 🙌

 

• Klarna inks a deal with Fiserv (NYSE: FI) to make Klarna-powered BNPL and installment loans available through Fiserv’s Clover point of sale devices across 100,000 U.S. merchant locations initially, with a larger rollout to new and existing Clover merchants slated for early 2026.

 

• Brightstar Credit Union (charter 67347; total assets $907M) partners with Spiral to enhance member engagement by enabling BrightStar's members to achieve financial wellness while giving back to their communities through everyday banking via Spiral’s Roundup Center – giving members the ability to round up their everyday purchases to grow their savings and support their favorite charitable causes and nonprofits direct from their digital accounts.

 

• F.N.B. Corporation (NYSE: FNB; BHC for First National Bank of Pennsylvania – FDIC 7888; total assets $48.5B) introduced direct deposit switch capabilities as well as enabling clients to digitally move their recurring debit transactions to FNB later in 2025.  Both services are being launched through a partnership with the great folks over at Atomic, and marks another massive win for the Atomic Team!!!! 🚀🤙

 

• Latino Community Credit Union (charter 68430; total assets $1.1B) announced the successful implementation of its new digital banking platform powered by Lumin Digital.
  • Ah, but if you are a customer of our FedFis FinTegration Ecosystem©, you already knew that – so call our own Bobby Button for sales and strategic market intel! …  Nice shameless plug if I do say so myself!!! 😉

 
How ‘bout some new product launches, entrance strategies, and funding:
 

• 💥 Shout out to Natasha Vernier and the entire Cable Team for their new product launch.  In addition to BSA, Cable now supports automated control testing for Reg B, Reg E, and Reg Z — “some of the most critical consumer protection regulations in financial services.”
  • The announcement states, “Banks and fintechs can now automatically test Reg B, Reg E, and Reg Z controls across 100% of their dispute and lending data, ensuring compliance with credit access, disclosure, investigation, error resolution, and record-keeping requirements, all within a the Cable platform.”  Nice!!!!
    • And be sure to take the Cable Compliance Challenge quiz in the link above to win some SWAG!!! 🤠

 

• 👉 U.S. Bank (FDIC 6548; total assets $663B) launched a new all-in-one checking account combined with payments acceptance for small businesses that integrates into existing software and allows real-time insights and cash flow management with a business banking dashboard – all within a single interface.  YES, Please!!!!!! 😊🚀
  • Uncle Sean is continuing to see a tremendous amount of expansion and targeting in the small business space over the last few years – no doubt in response to serious fintech endeavors (i.e. Brex, Mercury, etc.).  Check it out direct at U.S. Bank Business Essentials®.

 

• 👀 Starling Bank (yeah, the UK digital bank) is coming to America…   Starling is opening a US subsidiary called Engine by Starling Services US and is now building a team and scouting for a regional headquarters on the US East Coast.  They are looking to bring a new core solution to the US targeting  mid-tier banks, community banks and credit unions.

 

• Bunq (yep – another European digital bank) has filed for a broker-dealer license in the US – completing the first step of its two-phase strategy of entering the US market.  Bunq is expecting to refile for a full banking license later this year.

 

• Edward Jones has filed for an ILC banking charter again with the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions to establish Edward Jones Bank.

 

• And some Rumor Mill as reported by TmoNews (the unofficial T-mobile blog) – it looks like T-Mobile is once again looking to launch its own credit card, but this time it is allegedly working with Capital One (previously was working with Goldman Sachs).

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Tapcheck (EWA) raised $225M in capital consisting of a $25M Series A and a $200M credit facility.
  • Meadow (financial services provider for college students) raised $14M in Series A funding round to reform the student financial experience on behalf of over-burdened colleges and universities.
  • SoFi (Nasdaq: SOFI) secures an additional $3.2B for their Loan Platform Business (refers pre-qualified borrowers to loan origination partners as well as originates loans on behalf of third parties).

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏈 Lee Corso will retire from ESPN's "College GameDay" in August, completing almost a 40 year career with the show that began in 1987 – WOW!!!!  Coach turns 90 on August 7th.  He and Kirk Herbstreit have been part of the show since 1996.  “Corso's final broadcast will be Aug. 30, ESPN announced, saying additional programming to celebrate Corso is planned in the days leading up to that weekend.”  Definitely an amazing career – well done, Coach Corso!!! 🏆
• Uncle Sean having a 1970’s Easter flashback - I can still smell the vinegar in Mom’s kitchen as we dyed hardboiled eggs using PAAS® Color Cups with dye tablets! 😊❤️
• Okay – let’s get this thing closed out so we can enjoy Good Friday!!!  Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • Sometimes I eat Doritos in my underwear…  But I really wish the other customers would quit staring!!!! 😲😅
  • A quick PSA…  Cigarettes are like squirrels…  They are perfectly harmless until you hold one in your mouth and light it on fire!!!! 🐿️🤠
  • Thanks to Zane Ellzey for this one - What is a pirate’s favorite restaurant?  Arrrrby’s! 🏴‍☠️
  • And of course an obligatory Easter Sunday Dad / Bad joke…..
    • The Pastor interrupts the sermon to ask 3 men in the front row, “What would you want your loved ones to say as they are looking down at you in your coffin?”
      • Tom:  That I was a good husband and father.
      • Bill:  That I lived a good life of kindness to others.
      • Dan:  “LOOK! He’s moving!!!” 😂🤣

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend as well as a wonderful Easter 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 [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!!!
 
News was a little bit lighter this week (likely in part to “China tariff tennis” and “bond yield bingo” monopolizing the media - 😬😅) – but some cool headlines nonetheless….  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/11/25:
 

• ICYMI, there was a bit a good news regarding inflation data this week!  The BLS March CPI Report declined 0.1% for the month led by declines in energy / gasoline prices (first time that MoM prices have fallen since June 2024 and only the second time since 2020 – WooHoo!) placing the YoY increase at 2.4% (Feb was 2.8%).  Core CPI (excludes food and energy) increased 0.1% MoM and came in at 2.8% YoY (Feb was 3.1%) – the lowest annual rate since March 2021.  CNBC has a pretty good summary.
  • Although March inflation data may feel a bit stale and completely overshadowed by April’s recent tariff and bond yield headlines, it is good news for now and I’ll take it! 😊

 

• Jamie Dimon released his Annual Letter to Shareholders earlier this week.  Keep in mind that Mr. Dimon is paid extremely well to be the consummate pessimistic risk manager; and this was released prior to the tariff pause.
  • Banking Dive gives us the CliffsNotes version here (spoiler alert – top concerns are: how tariffs and trade agreements will affect America’s long-term economic alliances; along with a perilous and complicated geopolitical and economic environment).

 

• Not really a surprise, but another BaaS middleware platform goes bankrupt…  Solid (fka Wise) has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy after raising nearly $81M in funding and being sued by its Series B lead investor (ultimately dismissed with prejudice under a settlement in April 2024).  Solid claims to only have 3 employees left at the time of the bankruptcy filing and “a limited amount of current revenue.”
  • You can view the actual case filing here - Solid Financial Technologies, Inc.; Chapter 11 BK; Case #25-10669 (BLS).
  • 👉 Source credit to Jason Mikula for first breaking this news on LinkedIn (and for notifying all at the end of January that it was rumored Solid would be shutting down).  Be sure to follow Jason’s newsletter, Fintech Business Weekly for more in depth content.

 

• Block (fka Square) to pay a $40 million civil fine to New York's Department of Financial Services as a settlement to “alleged compliance shortfalls” without admitting or denying any wrongdoing.
  • Block agreed in January to pay an $80 million civil fine to settle similar charges by 48 U.S. state financial regulators.
  • Block said the New York settlement ends "all previously pending state money transmission license matters."

 

• Stripe’s application for a Merchant Acquirer Limited Purpose Bank (MALPB) charter has been filed with the state of Georgia’s Department of Banking and Finance. 
  • Banking Dive has a good summary adding, “The charter, which is known as a merchant acquirer limited purpose banks charter, would give Stripe direct access to card networks, which means the payments processing company would no longer need to partner with banks to process credit card transactions.”  This follows Fiserv’s lead for the same limited purpose charter from late last year.

 

• 💥 Knot has teamed up with PayPal to simplify and enhance checkout experiences for millions of PayPal users.  With Knot’s CardSwitcher™, PayPal users will soon be able to seamlessly add their PayPal branded cards as a payment method across their favorite merchants—making paying with PayPal easier.
  • Per the PR, “…Knot has formed partnerships with leading financial institutions and fintech innovators, including American Express, Bilt, and Step. This new collaboration with PayPal is a significant milestone in Knot's mission to build a financially interconnected future for users and merchants alike.”  Nice!!! 🤙

 

• Plinqit flexes their muscles 💪 with a major milestone…  “Deposits generated through its High Yield Savings product have surpassed $3 Billion” in just over a year with their white-label digital savings solution. 💰💰💰 
  • Check out their newly refreshed FI-focused website at info.plinqit.com/ helping “financial institutions attract deposits, launch digital brands, and grow strategically.”  And be sure to tell them Uncle Sean sent you!!! 😊 🎉

 

• Coming to America…  i2c expands its partnership with Access Finance to bring their Juzt Digital Credit Card to the U.S. via The Bank of Missouri as the issuing bank; and leveraging i2c’s global, unified banking and payments platform.
  • "This ongoing partnership with Access Finance highlights the versatility of i2c’s platform in supporting complex credit programs and expanding financial access,” said Amir Wain, CEO of i2c Inc. “We’re excited to continue supporting Access Finance in their mission to provide U.S. consumers with meaningful credit-building tools that can help shape a more financially inclusive future."
    • Uncle Sean is definitely seeing i2c show up in a lot of my research these days! 🚀

 

• Galileo (owned by SoFi) announced the launch of its Deposit Sweep product enabling fintech companies to partner with a network of participating banks and a deposit sweep provider to offer their customers the opportunity to maximize interest earnings and extend FDIC insurance coverage.
  • Per the PR, note that “This product is available exclusively to fintech clients where Galileo manages the ledger and their sponsor bank supports deposit sweeps.”
    • Uncle Sean goes deeper into the weeds…  Looking at the Galileo docs page for deposit sweep, it shows IntraFI as the deposit sweep provider which is the same sweep platform Coastal Community Bank is using (source: https://www.coastalbank.com/product/intrafi-fdic-insurance/) – somewhat relevant as Coastal is the sponsor bank for Bluevine (source: FedFis Fintech Analytics©) which is the pilot client for the Galileo Deposit Sweep program.

 

• True North Federal Credit Union (charter 5892; total assets $235M) selects Mahalo Banking to transform its digital banking experience; partly due to Mahalo’s deep integration with True North’s core processor, Corelation Keystone, and enhanced fraud protection capabilities.

 

• GFA Federal Credit Union (charter 24279; total assets $677M), a low-income designated credit union, signs with Salus to offer fast and easy microloans to its members.

 

• The OCC has acknowledged another cybersecurity incident where hackers gained access to emails containing sensitive government data in what the agency characterized as a “major incident.”  The breach compromised executive and employee emails, including attachments that contained “highly sensitive information relating to the financial condition of federally regulated financial institutions used in its examinations and supervisory oversight processes.”  Ooof!!!

 

• Elan Financial Services brings back Peter Klukken as Head of Elan Financial Services credit card division of U.S. Bank.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Rain (EWA and financial wellness app) raised $75M in Series B funding round.
    • This TechCrunch article states that Rain intends to launch an EWA-secured credit card, as well as savings accounts.  The company is also working on a product to be rolled out later this year that makes it easier for employees to use their Health Saving Account (HSA) by letting them spend on any card and get reimbursed.
  • Alinea Invest (investing app targeting Gen Z) raised $10.4M in Series A round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• PSA – don’t’ forget that the Tax deadline is next week (April 15th)!!!  So this weekend is likely your (and mine too) best shot at getting it done if you haven’t already… 🤮😢
• Back to some good news and happy thoughts…  Today is National Pet Day!!! In our crazy Mayo household, we have 2 dogs – 15 year old Angie (our rescue dog that is half red healer and half terrier = 100% crazy crack dog) and 12 year old Django (blue healer and big ole baby that likes to sleep on his back with his feet in the air); a 5 year old fat white cat named Yeti (that sheds more than both dogs combined 😲); a mud turtle named Turdy; and another outside only cat that just showed up one day named Ms. Kitty. 🐶😺🐢
  • And here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
    • I tried meal prepping once, but I got excited and ended up eating all 5 meals that day. 🤪
    • In a not too distant past, it was customary for people to bite into gold coins to verify authenticity (due to its malleability) … Ironically enough, it appears that gold was indeed the first “bitcoin”… 😂🤣
    • “Reintarnation” – (noun); /rēənˌtärˈnāSH(ə)n/:  To die and then come back as a cowboy. 🤠

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend (after your finish your taxes of course), 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 APRIL – Happy Community Banking Month and Happy National Financial Literacy Month (some good resources in both of those links courtesy of ICBA and OCC)!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/4/25:
 

• Oof….  It was a rough week in the equity markets…  After a quick peek at my retirement portfolio and subsequently “crocodile crying some 401K tariff tears” LOL, I decided to look for some good news / happy thoughts…
  • First, I’m thankful I don’t have Chairman Jerome Powell’s job!  LOL!!!!
  • Second, of course nobody asked me 😊, but I suspect that trade negotiations will be forthcoming – limiting the duration and total effect of tariffs (fingers crossed anyway).
  • Third, this Goldman Sachs research report paints a clearer picture of the weighted average effect of tariffs.
  • Fourth, the 10yr Treasury dropped below 4% intraday today while the 2yr/10yr spread (yield curve) remained fairly consistent.
  • 👀 And last, but certainly not least – I absolutely loved this article by Chris Nichols at SouthState Bank titled The Impact of Reciprocal Tariffs on Community Banking as he focuses on opportunities for community banks related to increased tariffs – nicely done!!! 👏💪

 

• 👉 Congrats to Smiley as Arlo Bank (FDIC 29143; total assets $119M) selects Smiley Technologies, Inc. as its core and digital banking provider!
  • What makes this win even more impressive is the legacy vendor had a strategic position with the bank (same vendor for Core, Online, and Mobile technology) – source: FedFis "Fintegration Ecosystem"  Very Nice!!!!💥

 

• Border Bank (FDIC 20776; total assets $977M) has selected Jack Henry for core processing and Banno for digital (includes Banno Digital Platform™, Banno Business™, and JHA Treasury Management™).
  • This is ANOTHER bank vendor change where the legacy vendor had a strategic position with the bank…  I’ve only seen a few of these EVER, so to see two in one week is certainly unprecedented!!!!
    • Here comes the plug!!!! 😊 Be sure to reach out to our own Bobby Button for full details of our FedFis "Fintegration Ecosystem" detailing the vendor tech stack for all US Banks and Credit Unions.

 

• 👀 Rocket Companies announced an agreement to acquire Mr. Cooper in a $9.4B deal (wowza! 😲💰).  This announcement comes just about a month after acquiring Redfin in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75B.
  • Combined, Rocket and Mr. Cooper will service a $2.1 trillion loan book across some 10 million clients.
  • “The combined company will attain a balanced business model and maintain stability in all market environments…” 
    • Uncle Sean’s take - Essentially implying a hedged model that in times of lower interest rates, mortgage originations and refinance activity (Rocket model) remain high; whereas in time of higher interest rates, servicing activity remains solid as fewer customers buy homes or refinance existing mortgages.
      • Certainly appears to be a nice vertical integration strategy (from potential buyers on Redfin, to originations / refi on Rocket, to servicing via Mr. Cooper). 🚀

 

• Rumor Mill (but sure sounds legit) – The DOJ has reportedly told financial regulators that it did not have sufficient cause to block the merger between Capital One and Discover, paving the way towards regulatory (Federal Reserve and OCC) approval.
  • “The Justice Department told the regulators of its decision in a confidential memo, the report said, citing unnamed sources.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean)

 

• Circle (USDC stablecoin issuer) has filed for an IPO with NYSE symbol “CRCL” signifying a broader moment for the crypto industry as a whole.  If you want to dig deeper, here is their S-1 Registration Statement with the SEC.
  • Per this CNBC article, USDC has roughly $60 billion in circulation and makes up about 26% of the total market cap for stablecoins, behind Tether’s 67% dominance. Its market cap has grown 36% this year, however, compared with Tether’s 5% growth.

 

• DCI and Paymentus announce a new partnership offering community banks “easy to use, flexible and secure bill payment options they can offer their customers.” 🤙
  • Next week kicks off the DCI Bankers Conference.  Tanner and Matthew will be there and I am looking forward to some fun LinkedIn pics!

 

• Definitely sending a shoutout and virtual fist bump 👊 to Braid as they achieved SOC 2 Type 2 certification – Great work!!!! 🎉

 

• And here we go!!!  Citizens (FDIC 57957; total assets $217B) launched their new Citizens Open Banking API, enabling clients can view their bank account balances, transactions and more within their preferred external systems.

 

• And more open banking…  Yavrio (open banking fintech with business ERP system integration) announced they are connected to corporate accounts at “Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Citi Bank, Bank of America and U.S Bank, the five largest banks in the US, as it expands internationally.”
  • Yavrio has also introduced “embedded ACH, RTP, FedNow and Wire payments across 9,600+ banks for customers in the U.S., enabling businesses to securely send funds from their payment journal to vendors via their bank account, streamlining the process for enhanced efficiency and security.”
    • The new world of commercial treasury management looks pretty cool! 😎

 

• Highnote partners with Feedzai – “By leveraging Feedzai’s AI-native, real-time fraud prevention and merchant monitoring platform, Highnote was able to swiftly bring its acquiring solution to market while meeting stringent regulatory requirements.”

 

• Ingo Payments selects Marqeta as its issuer processing partner.

 

• The Farmers and Merchants Bank (FDIC 16216; total assets $1.8B) selects Candescent’s Digital Banking platform for both retail and business banking.

 

• Stride Bank (FDIC 4091; total assets $3.9B) announced a new bank sponsorship program with Affirm to “become a new card issuing partner” for the Affirm CardTM debit card…
  • Worth noting that the legacy issuer of the Affirm Card is Evolve Bank & Trust which has had a rough time lately as it is still entwined in the Synapse middleware bankruptcy.  Evolve Bank & Trust also recently lost key fintech customers Mercury and Dave; and this week settled a data breach lawsuit for almost $12M.

 

• The Chime PR machine has been on a roll lately – this week Chime announced the launch of Chime Workplace, a next-generation financial wellness suite of services for employers and employees.

 

• Plaid completed a $575M secondary sale at a $6.1 billion valuation; and per the article, they “will not go public in 2025” but it is a milestone the company continues “to track towards.”
  • The valuation is less than half what Plaid obtained in 2021 from venture capitalists (but hey – that was 2021 when VC money was falling from the sky), and just 15% more than Visa's buyout offer in early 2020.

 

• ICYMI – Aspiration (climate-friendly fintech financial app) is changing their name to GreenFi after the fintech arm of Aspiration Partners was acquired last year by Mission Financial Partners.

 

• Some personnel movements:
  • BMG Money appoints Allyson Torsak as new Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Fiserv promotes Takis Georgakopoulos to COO.
  • DataVisor names Tony Kueh as the company's first COO.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Imprint (modern co-branded credit cards) raised $500M credit facility to increase lending capacity and accelerate growth.
  • Atomic (digital connectivity / account switching platform) raised an additional $10M in capital.  Banking Dive has a great interview with Atomic co-founder, Jordan Wright.  Huge congrats to the entire Atomic Team!!! 🚀
    • Oh – by the way, Atomic also redesigned their website - check it out at https://atomic.financial/. 😊

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏀 For the first time since 2008 — and only the second time ever — all No. 1 seeds have reached the men's Final Four.
• Recipe Time….  If you like onions (and vinegar), you’ll love this…  This is my Pickled Red Onion recipe (keep refrigerated):
  • 2 medium red onions (halved and sliced)
  • 2 cups white vinegar and 2 cups water
  • 1/3 cup sugar, 2 TBSP salt, and 1 (or 2) TBSP mixed peppercorn (you can also add a few garlic cloves if you like – it’s really hard to mess this up).
    • I think this can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge in a covered container, but it never makes it past a week at our house.  Goes great on salads, burgers, or just as a quick snack! And I LOVE the bright red color it turns after about 12 hours in the fridge.
• Straight to the Dad / Bad jokes so we can END THIS WEEK!!! 🤠
  • When funeral homes raise their prices, do they blame it on the cost of living? 🤷‍♂️
  • Ahhh, Confucius say – “Some people are wise; and some are otherwise…” 😅
  • Here lately, life has been a walk in the park…  “Jurassic Park” but a park nonetheless! 😲🤣🦖
  • Morpheus (The Matrix):  What if I told you…  wait - did you just take both pills??? 🙃🤪

 
 
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!!!
 
Don’t forget to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update and Fintech Cowboy’s interviews delivered straight to your inbox every week!  Hard to believe we are about to close out the first quarter of the year – but first….  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 3/28/25:
 

• Real quick economic update – this week the BEA Feb PCE Report came in pretty much benign and spot on with expectations with one exception where core PCE continues to be sticky at 2.8% YoY versus expectation of 2.7% (was 2.7% revised for Jan).
  • Tightening up??? 🤷‍♂️  Also note that personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.6% as consumer spending tightened slightly (versus estimate) while personal income came in significantly higher than estimates.  CNBC has a good summary as the words, “tariff, maybe, I don’t know, and uncertainty” dominate most of the major news outlets. 😝

 

• CSI announced that David Culbertson, current President and CEO, will transition from CEO to Vice Chair of the Board.
  • “David has been an incredible leader for CSI, and we are deeply grateful for his dedication, vision and contributions,” said Frank Martire, chair of the board of directors at CSI. “We are confident that David will continue to provide valuable guidance and support in his new role as vice chair.”
    • Indeed – congrats on an amazing 36 year career at CSI!!! 🍾🎉👏
      • Of course Uncle Sean checked out Mr. Culbertson’s LinkedIn profile (and I absolutely love ♥️ and respect this):
        • June 1989 (shortly after graduating from the University of Virginia with a BS in Computer Science) – “I began my career at CSI as a programmer. After a few years in that role, I was promoted to project manager and asked to lead the development team charged with converting new banks to our platform. In 1995, I was recruited by John Williams, the Chairman and CEO, to start the Internal Audit department. It was during those years with John that my interest in the overall business of CSI grew and my opportunity for personal growth was realized.”
        • Not much for job hopping, huh David? 🤠 Congrats!

 

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) notches another big win.  This week, Republic Bank & Trust Company (FDIC 23627; total assets $6.8B) selects Fiserv DNA “to enhance the company’s banking system capabilities and drive operational efficiencies to realize their digital transformation goals.”

 

• Highnote also lands a big win this week as The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) to integrate Highnote’s advanced virtual card issuance capabilities with BNY’s B2B payments offering.

 

• Patriot National Bancorp (BHC for Patriot Bank, NA – FDIC 33928; total assets $1B) raised more than $50M in a private placement as a source of strength for the bank; and announced the CEO is stepping down.

 

• Revolut US CFO, Max Lapin, makes it abundantly clear, “Revolut wants to become a bank in the United States.”

 

• Chime adds Instant Loans – a three month installment loan of up to $500.  “Chime’s Instant Loans has no late fees or compound interest, just a fixed interest rate of $5 for every $100 borrowed, paid back in three monthly payments of $35.00 per $100 borrowed (29.76% annual percentage rate).“

 

• Robinhood (Nasdaq: HOOD) announced Robinhood Banking (coming Fall 2025 to Robinhood Gold members via Coastal Community Bank) featuring “private banking” type services such as:
  • High-yield Savings, international wires, estate planning, tax advice, travel and event perks, family banking, and more…
    • Oh – and In lieu of an ATM network, it appears (although details are limited at best) that Robinhood will deliver cash to your doorstep….  Hmmm – what could possibly go wrong? 🤠

 

• 👉 This is great!  In response to Robinhood Banking and the effort to democratize a true digital Private Banking experience, M1 has penned a welcome letter – “To Robinhood: Welcome to the good fight” (a must read, btw).
  • I may or may not have laughed so hard that coffee almost came out of my nose at this line, “Robinhood is a phenomenal company that offers an incredibly designed platform. However, like a health food company selling cigarettes, they prioritize items that are detrimental to their customer’s financial well-being.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean).  LOL!!!!  Touché, M1! 😂

 

• Experian announced the launch of Cashflow Score using consumer-permissioned data.  Nice!!! 👏

 

• MANTL makes a couple of announcements this week (following the completion of its acquisition by Alkami):
  • Peoples Bank (FDIC 29523; total assets $2.1B) selects MANTL for its business and consumer deposit origination.
  • Soarion Credit Union (Charter 8169; total assets $614M) selects Consumer Deposit Origination by MANTL to transform online and in-branch account opening via MANTL’s integration with Soarion’s core, Jack Henry Symitar.

 

• IncredibleBank (FDIC 19772; total assets $2B) partners with Alloy to automate KYC, KYB, and fraud at originations at an enterprise level - significantly improving the bank’s digital onboarding process and overall operational efficiency.

 

• Shout out to Lumin Digital with a host of announcements!!!
  • 👍 Blue Federal Credit Union (charter 7361; total assets $2.1B) to launch Blue Business Banking for the CU’s business members.
  • 💥 Lumin Digital announced that clients have invested over $75M into the business adding to their $170M growth equity round in December, bringing an aggregate capital raise of over $2425M.
  • 👀 Also, ICYMI…  Huge congrats to Lumin Digital (per this LinkedIn post; and I personally love this story) as they have successfully gone live with First Bank of Berne (FDIC 9288, total assets $1.1B).  To my knowledge (and someone please correct me if I am wrong), I believe this is a first for Lumin Digital as they make the jump from a CU-platform to signing their first bank for digital; not to mention the fact that First Bank of Berne was a core strategic platform (i.e. same vendor for core, online, and mobile) – so not an easy win! 🚀

 

• 😊 Very happy to see that the NCUA has returned control of Valwood Park FCU to its members!!!  Previously conserved on Jan 20, 2023, “The recovery of Valwood Park reflects the extraordinary efforts of its leadership team, staff, and members,” NCUA Chairman Kyle S. Hauptman said. “Working in collaboration with the NCUA, the new management team saved the credit union from failure by enhancing controls and mitigating risks. Valwood Park is now in a stronger position to provide vital financial services and enhance the financial well-being of residents in Dallas’s Metrocrest communities.”
  • A virtual High Five to all involved as this was undoubtedly a lot of work!!!

 

• And more happy headlines 😊…  Recall the Heartland Tri-State Bank failure due to fraud (officer embezzlement precipitated by crypto pig butchering scheme) back in July 2023?  All depositors were made whole, but shareholders of the bank holding company were left high and dry.  Well, the FBI was able to recover nearly all of the shareholders' money!!!
  • Regarding the shareholders - "These were not Silicon Valley investors," Hemmert said. "These were regular people from southwest Kansas. And a lot of them had their net worth tied up in this bank." 
    • VERY NICE WORK!!!!! 👊

 

• Grazzy partners with U.S. Bank to offer a prepaid debit card program for hourly employees to easily access digital tips at the end of each shift.

 

• Alkami (Nasdaq: ALKT) has partnered with Greenlight enabling Alkami’s clients to offer Greenlight’s family finance app to their account holders.

 

• Bloom Credit has appointed Christa Degnan as Chief Product Officer and Tushar Mukhija as Head of Strategy and Partnerships, Credit Union Financial Services.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • EDGE Boost (financial platform for responsible gaming / sports betting) raised a massive $17.2M Seed funding round.
  • Mercury raised a $300M Series C round at a $3.5B valuation.
  • Abound (remittance flows to India) raised a huge $14M Seed round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏀 March Madness continues to roll and we are about halfway through the Sweet 16 as of Friday afternoon!  Continued bracket watch here!
• And I would be remiss if I did not give a nod to ⚾ MLB Opening Day earlier this week!  Ahhh, springtime! 😊
• Okay – you made it 😊…  Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes to kick off the weekend:
  • Research shows that over the course of 18 years, it costs over $235,000 to raise a child – and that’s just for the alcohol! 🍷🍻
  • I know they didn’t ask for it, but I sent a stool sample in with my tax return… 😬😅
  • It’s important to get out of the house every once in a while to remind yourself why you don’t go out! 🙃
  • Imagine how loud a centipede would be if they wore tiny little flip flops!!! 🩴

 
 
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!!!
 
WOW – what a week to come back from vacation!  We celebrated the first day of spring 🌷, Saint Patrick’s Day 🍀, March Madness 🏀 – and the Update this week is PACKED!!!  So let’s get to it - here is the Uncle Sean Update for 3/21/25:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  🤔 Thoughts on a new drinking game – everyone take a shot each time you hear the words “uncertainty and/or tariff” during the FOMC press conference 🤠…  Feel free to scroll past this part as the punchline is no change in rates.
  • All kidding aside, the FOMC decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25% - 4.50% as forecast uncertainty rules the day; and will slightly reduce the pace of its balance sheet reduction (QT) beginning April 1 from $60B to $40B by reducing its holdings of Treasury securities by $5B (was $25B per month) and maintain the runoff of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at $35B per month. More info below if you like to get your inner Fed-Freak on like me 😊:
    • Here is the Summary of Economic Projections (dot plot for us more “seasoned” folks – LOL).  Keep in mind that this is not policy, just median estimates based on today’s information.  Key points – still shows a median forecast of 2 rate cuts for 2025, slight uptick in inflation estimates and unemployment by YE, and downward revision of YE GDP from 2.1 to 1.7.
    • And here is Charman Powell’s Press Conference Transcript (26 pages); and here is the video (49:30).
      • Key points here - “uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased” but the labor market remains solid, the hard data does not reflect the soft data (morale and survey data) - yet, and that tariff inflation is likely transitory (there’s the T-word 😬).
      • Also note that the FOMC has been winding down its holdings since June 2022 (known as quantitative tightening, or QT) by allowing a combined amount of Treasuries and mortgage bonds to run off without being reinvested. It last lowered its QT in June 2024 to $60B from $95B.  Since 2022, the central bank has reduced its balance sheet by about $2T (source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm).

 
ICYMI 👀 – here are a few of the bigger headlines from last week while I was away:
 

• 👉 Shoutout to Smiley for their newest win as BankTennessee (FDIC 29177; total assets $614M) selects Smiley Technologies as its core banking provider.  Nice!!! 😊

 

• 🤠 High five to our friends over at Legend Bank (FDIC 3108; total assets $1.1B) as they announce their partnership with Fufild, an app-based employer sponsored rewards and retention platform for their employees, to provide embedded payment orchestration and ledgering capabilities for Fufild. 🚀

 

• Catalyst (payment solutions for Credit Unions) partners with Neural Payments to enhance P2P enabling in-app payments from any member to virtually any person or business “by seamlessly working across a host of payment rails while enabling users to send funds to many leading payment apps and digital accounts.”  💥

 

• Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT; FDIC 22653; total assets $4.6B) announced that George Gresham ceased serving as CEO and President of Green Dot and Green Dot Bank and as a member of Green Dot’s Board of Directors, effective as of March 7, 2025.  Additionally, Green Dot has retained Citi to initiate a process “to explore potential strategic alternatives” for the company going forward.  Banking Dive has a good summary article.

 
And now back to this week’s headlines:
 

• Long awaited and much anticipated - Klarna (BNPL) finally files for IPO (NYSE: KLAR). Here is the actual F-1 SEC filing with full financial statements.
  • And the Klarna PR machine goes on a roll with new partnership announcements:
    • Klarna announced they will now be the exclusive provider of BNPL loans for Walmart under Walmart’s OnePay fintech program (fka One).  WOW – that;s a big win!!!
    • Klarna also announced a BNPL partnership with DoorDash – although I have to admit that I’m not sure how much I support the idea of installment payments for online food ordering and delivery… 🤷‍♂️  But hey – a win is a win!

 

• Some interesting M&A headlines lately:
  • We have our first fintech acquisition of a bank in several years!  SmartBiz acquires CenTrust Bank, N.A. (FDIC 58158; total assets $148M) and receives regulatory approval to become a bank and bank holding company.  Banking Dive has a good summary.
  • A foreign bank (UK) acquisition of a bank…  OakNorth (chartered UK bank) to acquire Community Unity Bank (FDIC 59305; total assets $64M).  Interesting note that Community Unity Bank is still in De Novo status as it was launched in June 2023.
  • And a CU acquisition of a bank -  NuMark Credit Union (charter 61447; total assets $851M) to acquire The Lemont Bank (FDIC 3693; total assets $52M).
  • But wait – there’s more!!  Another CU acquisition of a bank - Legacy Community Federal Credit Union (charter 24421; total assets $643M) to acquire First Community Bank of Cullman (FDIC 30166; total assets $104M)
    • If you are keeping score…  This is only the 3rd announced CU acquisition of a bank thus far for 2025, but the 2nd so far in March.  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019.  Source: FedFis Bank M&A data.

 

• Fort Community Credit Union (charter 67184; total assets $384M) selects Lumin Digital as its new cloud-native digital banking provider.

 

• Capital Credit Union (charter 61637; total assets $815M) upgrades its core banking system to Jack Henry Symitar.

 

• Magnolia Bank (FDIC 8120; total assets $480M) partners with Narmi to offer digital account opening for consumers and businesses.

 

• Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan Association (FDIC 29613; total assets $1.3B) partners with CorServ to implement a modern credit card issuing program for their business and consumers – upgrading from their existing third-party Agent Bank issuing program.

 

• 🚀 LoanPro continues to expand by partnering with NovoPayment (next gen financial infrastructure provider) to give FI’s and fintech companies across Latin America access to an integrated, end-to-end infrastructure that can support virtually any class of credit and lending product by integrating NovoPayment's API-based issuing processing with LoanPro's credit ledger and solutions for origination, servicing, and collections.
  • Rhett Roberts, Co-founder and CEO of LoanPro, stated “By bringing LoanPro's lending technology into NovoPayment's ecosystem in Latin America, we're giving financial institutions and fintechs the tools they need to offer credit with confidence and compliance at the core."

 

• 👍 AffiniPay (embedded finance in a legal practice management software platform) announced the early access launch of launch of MyCase Smart Spend integrated with the LawPay Visa Business Credit Card (issued by Emprise Bank and [powered by Marqeta).

 

• Meanwhile, Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113; total assets $867M) bulks up with strategic hires in its lending team to drive growth and enhance its financing solutions.

 

• Mercury adds Coastal Community Bank (FDIC 34403; total assets $4.1B) as a new partner bank as Evolve Bank & Trust continues to lose marquee fintech clients (Evolve lost Dave to Coastal earlier this month).

 

• 👀 Nymbus continues to do some interesting things in the Direct Digital Bank space (particularly with CU’s)….  Check out Pillur (https://pillur.org/) which is Michigan State University FCU (MSUFCU; charter 23279; total assets $8B) new direct digital bank brand targeting digital banking for SMB’s.
  • Note that MSUFCU already has 2 other Direct Digital Bank Brands:
    • Collegiate - https://collegiatecu.org/
    • AlumniFi - https://alumnifi.org/

 

• Luminate Bank (FDIC 16635; total assets $336M) selects MANTL for online and in-branch account opening to enhance its deposit onboarding experience for businesses and consumers.

 

• Verizon (NYSE: VZ) jumps back into the fintech world by announcing a partnership with OpenBank (the direct digital bank division of Santander Bank,N.A. - FDIC 29950; total assets $103B) to launch digital high-yield savings accounts for Verizon’s mobile and 5G Home customers.
  • Memory lane moment…  Remember Verizon Family Money a few years ago – the Prepaid GPR issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank???

 

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts launched the Windham Rewards Debit Card powered by Galileo and issued by Sunrise Banks N.A.  This “first of its kind offering from a major hospitality brand in the U.S.” is designed for younger travelers as well as those who prefer a debt-free lifestyle. 
  • “The Wyndham Rewards Debit Card makes it easy to earn Wyndham Rewards points on day-to-day transactions, from gas and groceries, to dining, retail and more. Points can be redeemed for a wide-range of rewards—including free nights at more than 60,000 hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally—while other cardholder perks include complimentary Wyndham Rewards Gold level membership, hotel booking discounts, a rich annual point bonus and more.”
    • More info on Galileo co-branded debit rewards programs can be found here at Galileo blog.

 

• Notable FinTech funding:
  • Zolve (neo-immigrant bank) raised $251M in Capital including a $51M Series B round plus $200M in debt.
  • Synctera (BaaS platform) raised $15M Series A extension with hopes to get “to breakeven” by early 2026.  Total funding to-date since its inception on 2020 is $94M.
  • Tomo Mortgage (AI-powered digital mortgage lender) raised $20M in Series B round.
  • Worth (onboarding and underwriting for SMBs applying for credit-based products, loans, or financing) raised a whopping $20M Seed round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Vacation week visiting our kids was a blast!  So much so that I’m ready to take another week off right now – LOL!!!  We spent several days down in the peaceful Spicewood / Marble Falls area of the Texas Hill Country visiting Marshall and Nicole (and their dogs Wyatt and Lola); and Miss Claire came up from San Marcos to spend several days with us.  The weather the entire time was nothing short of spectacular!  It was a very relaxing trip with lots of laughs while we fed the deer and enjoyed good food.  We cooked smoked salmon, grilled up some venison burgers, had some oven baked chicken and cheesy broccoli, and even had boiled Cajun shrimp and crawfish from the good folks at the Marble Falls HEB grocery store (check out HEB’s debit card and mobile banking app).  And by the way – Aunt Patty and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary that Wednesday! 🎉🍾  The last leg of our trip found us back up in far east Texas rambling around the Caddo Lake area (absolutely beautiful).  We had lunch at Shady Glade Café in Uncertain, TX (yep – actual name of the town) where Aunt Patty had the chicken fried steak and I had the fried catfish – both of which were amazing!  We spent the rest of that Friday exploring and hiking the trails of Caddo Lake State Park and Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge (which used to be an Army ammunition plant).  Wrapping up the weekend we were able to spend some down time with Parker and Christian and finished up Sunday with pan seared beef pinwheels – yeah, we like to eat!!! 😊 One thing is for sure – fellowship, food, and belly laughs with your adult children is one of the greatest gifts in this world! ♥️
• I have no idea why this popped in my head, but does anyone else remember those crochet toilet paper roll covers from the 70’s and early 80’s that you would find in the bathroom at your Grandma’s house – especially the ones with the little doll head on top???  I always found those to be just a little bit on the creepy side! 😬🤣
• Alright!!!! Let’s get to some Dad / Bad Jokes to close this week out:
  • I don’t have any bad habits…  I’m actually quite good at all of them! 😂🤣
  • To my high school guidance counselor that said I would never amount to anything because of my consistent procrastination….  Just you wait!!! 🤠
  • I recently went on two diets because there wasn’t enough food on just the one! 😋🙃
  • And one of my favorite Saint Paddy’s day jokes…  Leprechauns are just Santa’s elves that got kicked out of the north pole for drinking on the job! 🍀🍺

 
 
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!!!
 
Uncle Sean is taking next week off for some much needed vacation & family time 🌴🍺🍹,  so unfortunately there will not be an Update published next week 🥺…  But first - here is the Uncle Sean Update for 3/7/25:
 

• In somewhat of a mixed bag of results, the BLS Feb Jobs Report came in at +155K jobs added lower than expectations (anywhere from 160K – 170K) but higher than last month (Jan was revised down 18K from 143K to 125K while Dec was revised up by 16K to 323K - you can see the revisions detail and history here).  Unemployment ticked up slightly to 4.1% (4% expected; 4% previously); and  average hourly earnings YoY came in at 4% (+4.2% expected; +4.1% previously) – still outpacing inflation.
  • The next few months should prove to be interesting as we see how fiscal policy begins to impact macroeconomic data and the yield curve; and how monetary policy from the FOMC reacts (if at all – at least in the near term).
    • Next FOMC meeting is March 18-19 and includes the SEP / dot plot projections.

 

• 👉 Shout out to Ponce Bank (FDIC 31189; total assets $3B) for their recently launched PonceBankDirect (direct digital bank); and I couldn’t help but notice the “© Copyright 1999-2025 Data Center, Inc.” at the login page.  Congrats to my friends at DCI – that’s a nice win with a $3B bank!  The incumbent core vendor (which is not DCI) has a strategic position with Ponce encompassing core, online, and mobile (source: FedFis) – further highlighting that DCI’s “Digital Branch and Side-Core” solution is completely core agnostic with no third-party middleware involvement. 🚀  I’m sure that everyone knows by now that Uncle Sean loves the direct digital bank model – very nice!!! 👏

 

• Dave (Nasdaq: DAVE) announced a new sponsor bank partnership with Coastal Community Bank (FDIC 34403; total assets $4.1B) and the bank’s CCBX BaaS division.  This Banking Dive article states that Dave currently relies on embattled Evolve Bank & Trust as its sole banking partner; and recognizes the benefits / risk mitigation of having more than one banking partner as a vendor diversification strategy.  However – the article also cites Bloomberg as stating Dave ultimately intends to drop Evolve as their banking partner.

 

• Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT; BHC for Green Dot Bank – FDIC 22653; total assets $4.6B) and Marqeta (Nasdaq: MQ) announced a new agreement enabling Marqeta to provide customers with convenient and affordable cash services via Green Dot’s money movement network (Green Dot Network powered by Arc) consisting of more than 95,000 locations nationwide.

 

• Socure (AI-driven digital identity) announced the launch of its Identity Manipulation Risk Score “designed to stop repeat first-party fraud abusers from exploiting the digital economy at scale.”

 

• Synovus Bank (FDIC 873; total assets $60B) further prioritizes fraud protection by partnering with Carefull to help Synovus account holders prevent fraud, scams and detect money mistakes – particularly for our aging adult population.  Uncle Sean loves this! ♥️
  • Per the PR – “By offering Carefull in a phased approach as a complimentary benefit to its clients, Synovus ensures that consumer-led, proactive fraud prevention is built more deeply into the everyday banking experience. The Carefull service includes oversight of bank, credit card and investment accounts for concerning patterns, signs of fraud, scams and common money mistakes. Carefull also provides identity and home title monitoring, credit monitoring and a secure digital vault for storing critical documents and passwords.”

 

• 👀 ICYMI…  The FDIC approved to rescind the 2024 Statement of Policy on Bank Merger Transactions; and also approved the withdrawal of outstanding proposed rules, including:
  • The brokered deposits proposal (YAY!!!!) which “would have significantly disrupted many aspects of the deposit landscape,” as well as proposals related to corporate governance, Change in Bank Control Act, and incentive-based compensation arrangements (which was previously approved but never published in the Federal Register).

 

• WSFS Bank (FDIC 17838; total assets $20.2B) partners with Greenlight through their “Greenlight for Banks” offering.  WSFS Bank clients will have complimentary access to Greenlight’s award-winning family finance app, enhancing financial literacy for kids and teens. 👍

 

• Finastra partners with i2C to enable Finastra’s bank and credit union clients to offer debit card issuance and digital wallet solutions to their customers via API connectivity between i2C’s card processing suite and Finastra Phoenix core solution.

 

• Vantage Bank Texas (FDIC 3405; total assets $4.6B) selects SRA Watchtower to consolidate the bank’s enterprise risk management program into a comprehensive BI platform for risk and financial insights “capable of consolidating data from diverse sources and enabling seamless monitoring of our enterprise risk profile.”

 

• One Nevada Credit Union (charter 68613; total assets $1.4B) selects Swaystack to gamify member onboarding and personalize engagement through integration with the CU’s existing Q2 digital banking platform.

 

• Arizona Financial Credit Union (charter 68730; total assets $3.4B) launches BNPL with equipifi that includes “both a pre-purchase feature that gives members access to extra funds prior to shopping, and a post purchase feature that converts eligible debit card transactions into installment loans.”  Nice! 😊

 

• American Eagle Financial Credit Union (charter 68659; total assets $2.6B) selects Alkami's Digital Banking Platform to enhance the CU’s digital-first strategy.

 

• COCC partners with Glia empowering COCC’s community bank and credit union clients to provide Glia’s ChannelLess® Architecture  platform bridging AI and customer service to deliver personalized customer interactions at scale within a single omnichannel platform.

 

• Aeropay (online payments including Pay-by-Bank) adds Regent Bank (FDIC 4160; total assets $1.7B) to its growing ecosystem of banking providers.  Services provided through the Areopay-Regent Bank partnership include ACH, RTP, and FedNow payment services.

 

• American Express (NYSE: AXP) announced an agreement to acquire Center, a corporate card and expense management platform.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • BalancedTrust appoints Tina Giorgio as Head of Operations.
  • equipifi announced that former Congressman Patrick McHenry has joined as a Senior Advisor.
  • Lenders Cooperative named Christopher McClinton as President and Chief Revenue Officer.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Flex (platform for small to mid-market business owners to manage both their personal and business finances) raised $25M in equity funding at a $250M valuation as well as a $200M credit facility as it expects to grow revenue by 5x in 2025.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Don’t forget to spring those clocks forward as Daylight Savings Time officially begins this weekend! ⏰
• In a sign of the times, Monopoly goes digital in a new version where the Banker is replaced by a mobile banking app.  Don’t worry – you can still get the old paper money version if you so choose.
• We made it – its time for the Dad / Bad Jokes to kick off the weekend (and my vacation):
  • When you speak two languages but begin to lose vocabulary in both – that’s byelingual. 😊
  • If prisoners took their own mugshots, they’d be cellfies…
  • And of course some Uncle Sean fitness / health pointers:
    • I want abs… olutely all the tacos!!! 🌮😋
    • If you lick all the icing off of the cupcake, it becomes a muffin – and muffins aren’t as bad for you as cupcakes! 🧁
    • I haven’t exercised in so long that my Fitbit just sent me a friend request…
  • And last but certainly not least….  Tomorrow is not promised, so call your siblings today and tell them they’re ugly! 🤠♥️

 
 
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.