Happy Friday!!!
 
For anyone that needs a reminder – DRINK LOTS OF WATER – it is HOT out there!!!!  🔥🥵😓  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 7/21/23:

• It’s here…  The Federal Reserve announced their highly anticipated FedNow® Service is now live.  Remember that scene in Jurassic Park where Chief Engineer, Ray Arnold (played by Samuel L. Jackson) has to reboot the server and has the classic line, “hold on to your butts” as he flips the switch…???  The good news is that nothing bad happened – LOL!!! 😝

 

• Uncle Sean is a fan (no pun intended) of Fannie Mae’s Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group.  Check out their latest research publication titled, Recent Annual Declines in Inflation Likely to Moderate, While Economic Growth Slows Over Second Half – some good insights.  It will be interesting to see how 2H23 CPI numbers come in as June was the last of the very favorable prior year comps.
  • Punchline – YoY CPI deceleration likely to slow (or even stall) as base effects become less favorable (June 2022 was the high water mark with headline YoY CPI at 9.1%)…

 

• AgentIQ announced a partnership with Stanford Federal Credit Union (a $4B FCU) to revolutionize the CU’s digital member experience initiatives through personalized, relationship-based banking utilizing Agent IQ’s Lynq™ platform – check them out at AgentIQ.com.

 

• Baker Hill announced an expanded partnership with BOK Financial (publicly traded bank holding company for BOKF, NA – a $45B commercial bank) whereas the bank will upgrade to Baker Hill NextGen® for SMB loan origination and portfolio monitoring, which “will also equip BOK Financial to comply with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's (CFPB) regulatory updates to Section 1071.”  NICE!!!  🤘

 

• Nav (SMB fintech) announced the acquisition of Tillful (business credit fintech) and will continue to support both Tillful subscription customers and cardholders.
  • “The acquisition of the Tillful cashflow scoring engine accelerates Nav’s ability to integrate and categorize cash flow data, and create proprietary financial health scores for small businesses.”

 

• In a further divestiture maneuver vying for regulatory approval of their proposed merger, ICE and Black Knight announced they have agreed to sell Black Knight’s Optimal Blue business to a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc. for $700M subject to the closing of Ice’s acquisition of Black Knight.
  • Important to remember that ICE and Black Knight previously agreed (back in March) to sell Black Knight’s Empower loan origination system (LOS) business to Perseus Group (a subsidiary of Constellation Software Inc.) – also a divestiture play contingent upon the closing of Ice’s acquisition of Black Knight.

 

• Well that didn’t take long….  Toast (leading restaurant payments and POS company) abruptly reversed course on a recently added $0.99 flat fee for online orders over $10.00 to be charged directly to consumers.  The backlash was quick and harsh, but to Toast’s credit – they were also quick to state they “made the wrong decision” and is removing the fee by the end of this week.

 

• Brex has partnered with Airwallex to accelerate Bex’s international expansion.

 

• Piece by piece….  Apple adds recurring payments via Apple Cash and is currently in public beta testing allowing users to send money (P2P) on weekly, bi-weekly and monthly intervals.  Per the article, the update will make it “even easier for parents to pay allowances or for users to pay back friends and family for regularly shared expenses, such as rent payments,” said Apple spokesperson Alyssa Hayes in an email.

 

• 👀 Some higher profile personnel moves this week:
  • Jason Strle has been named Discover's new Chief Information Officer.  “Strle joins Discover from Wells Fargo, where he served as EVP & Group CIO of its payments, virtual solutions, innovation and community banking business units, and more recently oversaw enterprise functions. During his tenure, he led the development and installation of a next generation digital banking platform and expanded the agile development practice to improve technology productivity and impact…  Prior to Wells Fargo, Strle spent almost 13 years with JP Morgan Chase.”
  • Brian Plum has resigned as the President and CEO of Blue Ridge Bancshares per this Banking Dive article and SEC 8K filing.
    • Uncle Sean isn’t too surprised by that since Blue Ridge hired G. William ("Billy") Beale as CEO of the bank back in May and is now the successor at the holding company as well.  What was surprising to me was the Banking Dive article also mentioned “the departure of Kirsten Muetzel, president of the bank’s fintech division. Muetzel’s tenure with the bank ends this month, according to her LinkedIn profile.”  Muetzel (former Federal Reserve staffer) was specifically hired in January of this year to “strengthening regulatory compliance, and working to advance Blue Ridge’s fintech strategy as a leading partner of choice for Banking as a Service partners” the bank said in a statement at the time.

 

• In an important first step towards regulation (which is time consuming and certainly feels like an ultimate and unavoidable conclusion), the White House has secured voluntary safety commitments to manage the risks posed by AI from seven leading AI companies (Amazon, Anthropic, Inflection, Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Open AI) with the goal of responsible development of AI focused on safety, security, and trust.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Bureau (AI enabled identity verification platform) raised an additional $4.5M in Series A bringing the total A round to $16.5M.  Valuation was not disclosed, but the article cites an impressive 6X customer and revenue increase over the last 12 months with 300M identities verified through the platform.
  • Karat (financial services for the creator economy) raised $70M in Capital consisting of a $40M equity round plus $30M in debt financing.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Just in case you were wondering, it is called “the dog days of summer” for a reason – and it’s not because the dogs just lay around in the shade all day.  Check out this article that references the seasonal alignment of the prominent star Sirius (aka the dog star as part of the constellation Canis Major) with the sun as a marker of the hottest days of summer in the northern hemisphere (due to the more direct rays of the sun).  
• The legendary Tony Bennett passed away this week at the age of 96.  CBS News has a good article referencing his seven-decade career with 19 Grammy Awards, 60 studio albums, and dozens of live albums and compilations.
• Okay – some quick Dad Jokes to bring on the weekend!!!!
  • Corn Dogs are basically just meat Twinkies… 
  • I went out for a run but came back home after 2 minutes because I forgot something….  I forgot that I am WAY out of shape and can’t run for more than 2 minutes!  LOL!!! 🏃
  • Do you ever have one of those days where you feel like you are aging like a fine banana?!?!
  • “Thank you for calling the Incontinence Hotline.  Please hold….”  😂🤣
  • Me yelling frantically at the squirrel in the street to make a dang decision and get out of the way is probably very similar to how my guardian angel feels at times!!!!  😁😆

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

Happy Friday!!!
 
HOLY MOLY it is HOT outside!!!  🔥🔥🔥  Don’t forget to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update delivered straight to your inbox every week (it’s cooler than crypto, more hip than Threads, and “Everybody’s Doin’ It” 😊)!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 7/14/23:
 

• Shout-out to my Texas friends at IBAT for launching IBATx Accelerator Program for community banks; AND announced CollateralEdge™ as the first fintech partner in the program!!!!
  • Uncle Sean really loves the great work that is being done for community banks through the IBAT and Bankers Helping Bankers platforms.  Collaboration and innovation is how we succeed!!!!  ♥️

 

• The BLS June CPI Report came in at 3.0% YoY (expectation was 3.1% and May was 4.0%) – Core CPI remains a little more sticky but also improved to 4.8% (expectation was 5.0% and May was 5.3%).
  • Marks 12 straight months of annual CPI declines signaling that the Fed is slowly winning its fight against inflation while productivity and the labor market remain resilient (for now).  CNBC has a good summary as always.

 

• Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve released the Beige Book summarizing economic activity through June 30 as “slightly increased” since May with “robust” tourism and travel activity.  Banking conditions were reported as “mostly subdued” as lending activity continued to soften.

 

• Owners Bank (the direct digital bank division of Liberty Bank, FDIC 17943) announced the launch of small business loans and lines of credit offerings in support of small businesses that are often left behind by big banks.  Check them out at Owners Bank.

 

• Jenius Bank (the new direct digital bank division of Manufacturers Bank, FDIC 18618) launches personal loans as its inaugural product with a full suite of banking products coming soon.  Take a look at what they are building at Jenius Bank™.

 

• 👀 Car IQ teams up with Visa to power the future of vehicle payments.  Uncle Sean is excited about the “connected vehicle payment” market and how this continues to evolve.  Particularly intrigued with Car IQ’s Know Your Machine™ technology.  Very cool stuff!!!

 

• Atomic (really good folks over there) announced a partnership with eCU Technology to bring automated direct deposit switching to credit unions.

 

• St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard is stepping down after 15 years in the role (WOW!!!) and will become the Dean of the Business School at Purdue effective August 15.  To be clear, Bullard was not a voting member of the FOMC, but has recently lead an influential and hawkish stance in regard to aggressive rate hikes to curb inflation.

 

• If you thought your week was rough 😬….  Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was arrested Thursday and charged by three federal agencies (SEC, FTC, and CFTC) with securities, commodities and wire fraud and attempting to manipulate crypto currencies.

 

• ⚠️ CAREFUL – as we all know the medical industry is very popular in the Sponsor Bank / embedded finance & Direct Digital Bank models…  The CFPB, Dept of HHS, and US Treasury have launched an inquiry into high-cost specialty financial products (medical credit cards / installment loans) being “pushed on patients as a way to pay for routine medical care and which drive up health care costs and medical debt.”

 

• Bank of America was fined $250M by the CFPB and the OCC (consisting of $100 million in restitution to consumers and $150 million in additional fines) for double-charging consumers for insufficient fund fees, opening fake accounts for customers, and withholding credit card rewards.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Equabli (debt collection and recovery platform) raised $3.35M in Capital
  • CapStack (bank-to-bank marketplace for portfolio diversification) raised $6M in Pre-Seed funding round.
  • Trunk Tools (construction-focused fintech) raised $9.9M in Seed round funding.
  • Efficient Capital Labs (alt lending – revenue based financing for B2B SaaS) raised $7M in Capital.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Last weekend, Aunt Patty and I witnessed a Cicada Killer Wasp do its deed….  I’ve seen these huge wasps many times (they are scary looking but generally leave you alone), but have never seen them actually take down a Cicada before - It was very interesting and slightly terrifying all at the same time! 
• While on the subject of crazy and creepy stuff….  Check out this record breaking Burmese python that was captured in Florida this week (by hand nonetheless) measuring 19 feet long and weighing 125 pounds!!!!!  Yeah, that is a big ole “AW HECK NO” from Uncle Sean!!!! 🐍 😧
• I feel bad complaining about the heat when I see headlines like “Phoenix could hit 119 over the weekend” and “Unprecedented ocean surface temps surrounding Florida have scientists alarmed”….  Hoping this doesn’t turn into an agricultural disaster or lead to a severe second half of hurricane season…. 😟
• But in the meantime, let’s laugh a little at some heat related Dad jokes (because it’s better than crying)!!!!
  • It’s so hot Siri asked to be dipped in a glass of ice water.
  • It’s so hot you can’t make a chili dog. 
  • It’s so hot that the catfish in Tanner’s pond are already fried when you catch them. 🤠
  • I saw a chicken lay a fried egg.
  • My Iceberg lettuce melted….
  • Meanwhile in Texas, we’re all just sitting around and baking cookies on the car dash… 🍪😎

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

Happy Friday!!!
 
It was a pretty light week for market research updates due to the 4th of July falling on Tuesday (which also means that Walmart will be putting out their Christmas decorations any day now - 🎄🎅 LOL)….  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 7/7/23:
 

• Done deal….  Widely rumored since last week, FIS has announced a majority (55%) sale of Worldpay to GTCR at a $17.5B valuation that includes an additional $1B if certain performance metrics are hit.  For more detail, check out their investor deck.

 

• The BLS Jobs Report for June came in at 209,000 new jobs (below expectation of 240,000 and below May revised number of 306,000) with unemployment slightly lower at 3.6% versus 3.7% in May.
  • Make no mistake – adding 209,000 jobs is still a strong number (and paves the way for more FOMC rate hikes), but the data is continuing to soften ever so slightly as we still hope for a soft landing.  CNBC has a good summary.

 

• Meanwhile, the CSBS Community Bank Sentiment Index for 2Q23 dropped 10 points from the previous quarter to 73 – the lowest recorded level since the survey began in 2019.

 

• Bangor Savings Bank (FDIC 18408; Total Assets $7.4B) is launching their first credit card suite named everblue.  The business CC is already available with the personal CC set to launch soon.  You can check out the everblue™ Business Rewards Plus Mastercard® Credit Card here.

 

• Well you don’t see this every day….  Three Credit Unions in Michigan have announced their intent to merge together pending regulatory approval.
  • Chippewa County Credit Union (Charter 61416; Total Assets $38M) and Federal Employees of Chippewa County Credit Union (Charter 62105; Total Assets $17M) are seeking to merge into U.P. State Credit Union (Charter 62085; Total Assets $145M). 

 

• Cheqly (neobank for SME startups) launches in the US using Mbanq's BaaS platform.

 

• Affirm (BNPL) to shutter Returnly after acquiring them in June 2021 for $300M; and is focusing its return management with Loop Returns per the companies blog post.

 

• 👀 Rumor mill….  Uncle Sean typically tries to stay away from reporting on rumors, but this caught my attention and is worth following to see if it actually comes to fruition.
  • Goldman Sachs has been receiving a lot of attention lately regarding their Apple partnership to which rumors are abound that they may be looking to exit the Apple partnership.
  • If this is true, then it would be a stark reversal of their position over the last few months.  In fact they just renewed their partnership last Oct per this WSJ article (apologies for the paywall) through 2029, launched the savings account in April 2023, and is also behind the Apple BNPL platform.  I guess we will have to see how this plays out.

 

• This next update is also a little bit odd, but bear with me….
  • Meta (f/k/a Facebook) launched Threads this week as a competitor to Twitter and has already exploded to 70M sign-ups per a post by Mark Zuckerberg…
    • This comes at a time when Twitter’s advertising revenues are down nearly 60% - and may add more fuel to the possible Musk vs Zuck cage fight (I can’t even make this stuff up)! 🥊
      • Recall where Zuckerberg won Gold and Silver in his first ever jiu-jitsu tournament in May….
    • All kidding aside, as bankers this is another social media channel that we need to monitor (reference SVB being labeled as the world’s first social media fueled bank run); and let’s not forget Twitter's payment platform interests as well as Facebook (err Meta).

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Topkey (expense management platform incl. card issuance for property managers) raised $5.2M in Seed funding.
  • Clair (EWA) raised $175M in funding consisting of $25M in equity financing plus $150M as part of a new consumer lending program from partner bank Pathward.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• The annual Running of the Bulls kicks off this week from July 7th – 14th in in Pamplona, Spain.  Yeah – I’m not doing that!!!! LOL!!!! 🐂
• Bit of a scare this week as the White House was briefly locked down after the discovery of a suspicious white powdery substance in the West Wing (an area commonly open to tourists)…  But all is well, turns out it was just cocaine…  Wait, WHAT?!?!?!?  😬😮😆
• And here they are….  😊
  • If a turkey runs away, does that make it a chicken???
  • Well, at least it’s not snowing….  It’d be miserable having to shovel snow in this heat…  🤣
  • I said, “Hey Aunt Patty – what rhymes with orange???”  And she said, “no it doesn’t!!!”  Ah – touche, Aunt Patty!  LOL

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

Happy Friday and Happy Independence Day next week!!!  🎆🧨🎇
 
Goodbye to the first half of 2023 – Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/30/23:
 

• Couple of quick Fed updates this week:
  • The Fed Reserve published the results of their annual bank stress test with the punchline that “all 23 banks tested remained above their minimum capital requirements.”
    • Generally, this clears the way for dividends and share buy backs for the nation’s largest publicly traded banks, but I have been reading that some analysts are thinking banks may pare back in anticipation of heightened regulatory capital requirements on the horizon – I guess we’ll know more pretty soon as ex-dividend date announcements start coming out.
  • The Fed Reserve also announced a list of 57 early adopter organizations that have “completed formal testing and certification on the FedNow Service in advance of its launch in late July.”
  • At the 2023 ECB forum this week, Fed Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated his “higher for longer” interest rate stance stating that inflation is unlikely to hit the Fed’s 2% target until 2025; and that two more rate hikes are very likely this year.
    • 2025???  Holy Cow!!! 😲

 

• 👀 Worth paying attention to from a credit quality standpoint…  In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court struck down the President’s $400B student debt forgiveness plan citing the Administration did not have the authority to do so (would need Congress approval).
  • Hoping this does not result in additional personal loan delinquencies / consumer based asset quality concerns as student loan payments are set to restart in October.  😬

 

• 👀 Also a timely delivery related to credit / asset quality as we watch CRE exposures with a careful eye…  The FDIC, Federal Reserve, OCC, and NCUA issued an Interagency Policy Statement on Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Accommodations and Workouts.

 

• PacWest (Nasdaq: PACW; Bank subsidiary is Pacific Western Bank), consistent with their previously announced strategy to focus on relationship-based community banking, announced the sale of a $3.54B portfolio of Lender Finance Loans to Ares Management Corp.

 

• Texas Capital Bank (Nasdaq: TCBI) has partnered with Extend in order to offer virtual card issuance and spend management platform for business customers.

 

• Coastal Community Bank (BaaS Sponsor Bank; Nasdaq: CCB) announced they have launched ZEscrow powered by ZSuite Tech with the goal of leveraging ZSuite’s digital escrow sub-ledgering solution to enhance the bank’s commercial deposit growth.  Those folks over at ZSuite Tech have been on a roll - nice work!!! 😊

 

• Hate to see this, but…  Following up on last week’s Cease and Desist order, Nevada’s Financial Institution Division has placed Prime Trust into receivership.

 

• The CFPB hits ACI Worldwide with a $25 million civil money penalty as a result of a 2021 botched electronic payments test that effected nearly 500,000 accounts by initiating $2.3B in unauthorized mortgage debit withdrawals.

 

• Sendwave (international money transfer) announced the launch of Sendwave Pay for U.S. customers including a mobile app and Visa Debit card.

 

• Another week, another fraud naughty list consortium – which is a good thing as we move more and more into real-time / instant transfers (Tanner Mayo has been saying it for about 4 years now, “real-time money movement equals real-time fraud”).  Sardine announced the launch of SardineX, a 314b real-time fraud data consortium consisting of banks, card networks, payment processors, fintechs, and decentralized finance platforms, via an API-enabled risk analysis and transaction feedback platform.  For more info – check out the SardineX data consortium blog.

 

• Socure (in the red-hot digital identity verification space) has acquired Berbix for approximately $70M in cash and stock; and announced the launch of their Predictive Document Verification (DocV) 3.0 solution.

 

• Ramp (corporate card and finance automation) has acquired Cohere.io, an AI powered customer support tool.

 

• Kind of “news / not news” since this was originally announced last Nov, but hey – they are in beta now…  The Square Credit Card (running on the AMEX network) features a credit limit “determined by the sales a seller processes through Square.”  Square is also expanding on Square Loans to include a monthly installment payment option as opposed to just daily repayments on sales settlements.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Unit21 (risk and compliance platform for FI’s, fintechs, neobanks, etc.) raised $45M in Series C funding round.  Check out this blog highlighting their Fintech Fraud DAO consortium that now “covers more than 10% of adult consumer transactions in the U.S.”
  • JustPaid (AI powered finance company) raised $3.5M Seed round.
  • Cart.com (end-to-end e-commerce platform) raised $60M in Series C round at a $1.2B valuation.
  • Maza (neo immigrant bank utilizing ITIN as identity check) raised $8M Seed Round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Ah, the 4th of July was always (and still is) one of Uncle Sean’s favorite holidays!!!!  So I’m cutting this short so I can fire up the grill, ice down the beverages, and blow some stuff up for the next four days - WOOHOO!!!!! 🤠
• Okay – some real quick Dad Jokes:
  • If a pig lost his voice, is he now “disgruntled…???”
  • What's a lawyer's favorite drink?  Subpoena colada….
    • Yep – here it is so you can have it in your head all day - Escape (the pina colada song) – LOL!!!!
  • I have a joke about trickle down economics, but 99% of people won’t get it…  I laughed a little too hard at that one!!! 😆🤣
  • And lastly for my Accounting and Payroll folks out there….  It’s called gross pay because it’s disgusting to see what you could’ve made…  🙄

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

Happy Friday!!!
 
What is it with 4 day workweeks that just kill us???!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/23/23:
 

• The BaaS Association (part of the BHB network) was busy this week welcoming new members Treasury Prime and Infinant.  Welcome aboard!!!

 

• And more Treasury Prime news as they partner with Checkout.com with plans to launch several initiatives in the coming months (including Debit Card Funding product for account opening).

 

• I like seeing this - Citi has collaborated with Best Buy to introduce the Bridge built by Citi® Platform to Best Buy Suppliers, a supplier finance platform providing loans between $100K and $10M.
  • The really cool part is that this platform is connected to over 75 community and regional banks, including more than 20 Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs) and 4 women-owned banks – Nice job Citi!!!! 😊
  • Take a look at the dedicated website for Best Buy suppliers at www.bridgebuiltbyciti.com/bestbuy

 

• Jack Henry announced the launch of Payrailz®  Fraud Monitor for AI enhanced real-time payments fraud detection.

 

• We knew it was coming, but it’s official now – the U.S. Department of Education stated that student loan payments will restart in October with interest to resume accruing beginning Sept 1.  Hopefully, this doesn’t result in delinquencies / asset quality concerns in other areas of personal loans (here’s looking at you Credit Card and Auto debt).

 

• Congrats to Chris Davis for the recent promotion to SVP, COO at RiverBank!

 

• 👀 Google Cloud announced the launch of Anti Money Laundering AI tool to help financial institutions “more effectively and efficiently detect money laundering.”

 

• Plaid announced the launch of Beacon, an anti-fraud network for fintechs and financial institutions to log / track bad actors in order to “mitigate repeat fraud against businesses, protect consumers, and create a safer digital finance ecosystem.”

 

• Meanwhile, the CFPB is working on creating their own public registry of nonbank persons that are under certain public enforcement orders and will include information regarding those orders.

 

• Continuing the trend from last week, there was certainly no shortage of ‘wheelin & dealin’ in the merger space for fintechs:
  • Robinhood to acquire X1 credit card platform for $95M.
  • BM Technologies (NYSE: BMTX, f/k/a BankMobile) acquired Envel, an AI powered PFM app, in what has been described as a liquidation sale of Envel.
  • Baker Hill to be acquired by Flexpoint Ford private equity firm

 

• Well, that didn’t last very long….  Crypto custodian BitGo has terminated the planned acquisition of Prime Trust just two weeks after announcing the acquisition.  😲
  • Prime Trust has now halted all USD deposits and withdrawals by order from Nevada regulator stating “the overall financial condition of Respondent has considerably deteriorated to a critically deficient level, and is now in a position where it is in an unsafe or unsound condition to transact business…”  

 

• As expected, the DOJ is looking at expanding the scope of competitive factors for bank merger review beyond the old school approach of branch overlap and market concentration of deposits (although I admit that “Herfindahl-Hirschman index” is fun to say – LOL).
  • Worth noting that the OCC, FDIC, and Federal Reserve are also in the process of revamping bank merger guidelines that have largely been in place since 1995.

 

• Figure launched a HELOC wholesale model enabling originators to seamlessly access Figure’s home equity line of credit offering.

 

• Sezzle (BNPL installment platform) announced the launch of Sezzle Pay Anywhere, a subscription-based product that allows shoppers to use their Sezzle Virtual Card to pay anywhere Visa is accepted whether it be online, in-store, or bill pay.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Yendo (f/k/a Otto - credit card collateralized by car ownership) raised $24M in Series A funding round.
  • For my Ag Banker friends (Uncle Sean loves AgTech), Guardian Agriculture (autonomous drones for commercial farming as an alternative to crop dusting and ground spraying) raised $20M in Series A funding to continue to scale their U.S. operations.  The article cites more than $100M in pre-orders – NICE!!! 👍
  • Aktos (system of record for modernized debt collection agencies) raised $4.4M in Seed funding to build an AI-powered operating system for the debt collection industry.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• I don’t know how I feel about this just yet – but it is very interesting nonetheless…  The USDA approved two California companies this week, UPSIDE Foods and GOOD Meat, to sell chicken made from animal cells (aka “lab-grown meat”) instead of slaughtered animals. AP News has a good summary; and here are the respective press releases for more info - GOOD Meat press release and UPSIDE Foods press release.
  • One thing is for sure, this brings a whole new meaning to the phrase “tastes like chicken!”  LOL 🐔🍗🤣
• Potential game changer???  Domino’s Pizza announced Pinpoint Delivery this week.  Yep, you can now “drop a pin” within the Domino’s App showing your location and get your favorite pizza delivered straight to you. I’m sure there are certain geographic/distance restrictions (don’t think they are going to hand deliver your pie to you after you hiked 15 miles in the middle of nowhere and got a pizza craving, but you get the gist) - “customers and delivery experts will meet at specific locations designated in the Domino's app that may be adjacent to places like parks, baseball fields and beaches…”  That’s a good start – no address / no problem.  “Pin me.” 🍕
• ICYMI (Uncle Sean loves this) – Apparently, Fed Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is a Deadhead!!!!  “I’ve been a Grateful Dead fan for 50 years.”  Rock on Chair Powell!!!!  🤘😎
• And last but certainly not least – this week’s rendition of Dad Jokes from Uncle Sean!!!!
  • Excessive heat warning for my fellow Texans - remember to drink plenty of water and stay indoors from 11 AM to November.  😝
  • Noah’s Captain’s Log on Day 39:  “Grilled Unicorn is delicious!”
  • Cows knees are also referred to as burger joints….
  • I haven’t spoken to Aunt Patty’s sister in years…  I didn’t want to interrupt her…  LOL!!!!  🤣

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

​Happy Friday!!!
 
WHEW – it is getting HOT down here in Texas 🔥which can mean only one thing…..  It’s Father’s Day Weekend!!!  Happy Father’s Day to all the Dad’s out there getting it done 24/7!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/16/23:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  As widely expected (although I admit that I thought they would go ahead and raise 25bps), the FOMC decided to hold and maintain the existing target range for the fed funds rate at 5.00% - 5.25% based on “how far and fast we have moved.”  Chairman Powell went on to state that “holding the target range steady at this meeting allows the committee to assess additional information.”  If you want to get your “inner Fed freak on” like me 😊, you can check out the details below:
  • Here is the Transcript of Chair Powell’s Press Conference (25 pages); and here is the press conference video (40 minutes).
  • Also – check out the Summary of Economic Projections (i.e. “Dot Plot”) showing a consensus estimate of about 50 bps more rate increases to 5.6% through YE; but a growing sentiment for the potential of a “soft landing” as Change in real GDP increased from 0.4% in March to 1.0% for 2023 YE.
    • As always, Uncle Sean feels the need to remind folks that the Summary of Economic Projections is not policy.  It is simply a median of current assumptions based on current economic data as it stands today.
  • Meanwhile, the BLS May CPI Report came in at 4.0% YoY (expectation was 4.1% and April was 4.9%) – Core CPI remains a little more stubbornly sticky at 5.3% (expectation was 5.2% and April was 5.5%).
    • Marks 11 straight months of annual CPI declines with the high water mark being June 2022 at a whopping 9.1%.
      • Also for reference – this is the first time since Mar 2022 that the Fed did not raise rates at their FOMC policy meeting….

 

• This makes me happy!!!  The NFL announced it is borrowing $78M from 16 Minority Depository Institutions (MDIs), Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) and minority- and women-focused banks (a complete list of these FI’s is at the bottom of the article) to support and expand business opportunities with diverse enterprises across the country. The League worked with Bank of America to identify these financial institutions that provide vital investments to diverse individuals, businesses, and communities.  GOOD JOB to everyone involved!!!! 👍👏

 

• The OCC released their Semiannual Risk Perspective - Spring 2023 Edition – Uncle Sean found this to be a good read at 36 pages with some really informative graphics showing changes over time as well as some Blue Chip (Walters Kluwer) economic estimates going forward. Some Key Summary Items:
  • Liquidity levels have rebounded
  • Credit Risk remains benign, but signs of stress are increasing with particular emphasis of office space (three years of declining occupancy) in CRE – with class B and C buildings having the highest vacancy rates (CoStar Group)
  • Operational Risk and Compliance Risk remain elevated as banks continue to utilize third parties for digitization efforts and alternate product, services, and delivery channel offerings
    • Uncle Sean wrote about this last week related to the joint Interagency Guidance on Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management, but it certainly bears repeating that while Banking-as-a-Service is awesome and still growing at a rapid pace, it sure feels like the regulators are looking very closely at the BaaS platform provider / Connector model (we are all aware of the higher profile enforcement actions / written agreements over the past year).
      • And this part too…. As Uncle Sean likes to say, “you can delegate responsibility, but you cannot delegate accountability.”

 

• Speaking of BaaS Connector/Middleware model…..  So I had purposedly delayed writing about FIS to acquire Bond as neither entity had prepared an official press release.  However, it appears that this is a done deal and has already closed.  Payments Dive has a good summary.
  • Uncle Sean’s thought…..  What happens when a major Core Processor acquires a BaaS Connector…???  What happens to other BaaS Connectors that were already partnered with FIS???  Could this be the beginning of an industry wide shift???  I guess we shall wait and see.  😲

 

• Okay – one more BaaS Connector model comment and I’m done 😊….  This week, Synapse announced they have laid off 18% of their workforce (after finally reaching profitability and cash flow positive last year) citing current macroeconomic conditions that have “begun to impact our clients and platforms.”
  • Alright, here it comes….  Uncle Sean goes “off the rails” here…  If one of the most well known BaaS Connectors (who is partnered with one of the leading, if not THE leading BaaS Sponsor Bank as well as others) is having a tough time after years of operations and significant market share, what does that mean for that specific model as we continue to see growth in the BaaS Sponsor bank space…???
    • I’ll leave you with one terrifying thought to contemplate if you are a Sponsor Bank using or thinking about using a BaaS platform provider / Connector model (reference the Interagency Guidance on Third-Party Relationships – see Section 5. Termination, page 61-62 – know how to unwind your third party relationship)…..  If you have a BaaS Connector platform provider utilizing multiple banks (including yours) for various banking services for a fintech or fintechs – what is your action item if that Connector files for bankruptcy…???  😬😮
      • Okay – I’m done now – WHEW!!!

 

• Some big news for Wisetack (embedded financing for home improvement & repairs) as they announced partnership with Citizens to offer BNPL for home services projects as part of Citizens Pay.

 

• Big news for ZSuite as well as Dime Community Bank (Nasdaq: DCOM; $13.8B total assets) launches ZSuite for Commercial Escrow Management – NICE!!!!

 

• Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113) announced a partnership with Numerated to help the bank’s credit team to automate the process of aggregating and analyzing financial data.

 

• Customers Bancorp (NYSE: CUBI, bank subsidiary is Customers Bank – FDIC 34444) acquires $631M venture banking loan portfolio from FDIC at a significant discount of approximately 85% of book value; and has recruited 30 team members from the unnamed group that originated those loans to service the venture-backed growth industry in multiple high-profile markets (including Austin, the Bay Area, Southern California, Chicago, Denver, Raleigh/Durham, and D.C.).

 

• Temenos is in talks with Nordic Capital as one of the last potential acquirers of Temenos as other suitors drop out. Worth noting that Temenos has been evaluating buyer interest for a while now but has stepped up over the last year due to pressure from activist investor, Petrus Advisers.

 

• The FDIC demands three companies cease making false or misleading representations about deposit insurance:
  • Bodega Importadora de Pallets (“Bodega”), Money Avenue, LLC, and OKCoin USA, Inc. (the actual letters can be found in the link above)

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Truework (API enabled income and employment verification platform) raised $24M in equity funding and a strategic partnership with TransUnion – allowing TransUnion customers to access credit and income data through a single API.
  • Majority (neo immigrant banking app) raised $9.75M in Series B extension bringing the total B round to $47M and citing 6x transaction volume growth per year.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• For the sports fans - Congratulations to the Denver Nuggets as NBA Champions with a win over the Miami Heat in Game 5; and congrats to Las Vegas Golden Knights as the NHL Stanley Cup champions in their victory win over the Florida Panthers in Game 5.
• Wondering if / when we will begin to see generative AI as a standard employment vertical open up in corporate G&A such as Treasury, Accounting, IT, Order Management, and now AI…?  Depending on corporate structure / business model, could we see a Chief AI Officer as a common executive role?  Hmmm….
• Ah yes, here they are – Dad Jokes from Uncle Sean!!!!
  • Little known factoid – if your dog is running a fever, go to the store and get some mustard….  Because mustard is great for hot dogs….  (okay, that was pretty lame even by my poor standards) 🙄
  • Aunt Patty asked me “what is E.T. short for?”  Well, it’s because he has little legs…  😝
  • There are a lot of people that don’t like to hold hands in public – especially if they don’t know you!
  • Is condensed milk just a smaller version of regular milk???  And what about evaporated milk – how do they get it in the can???
    • Gotta run now – just in time to mow the yard and start the grill for Father’s Day Weekend in my New Balance and Jorts – oh yeah - LOL!!!!! 🤣😆😂

 
 
Have a GREAT Father’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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

​Happy Friday!!!
 
All eyes are on the Fed next week with the upcoming FOMC meeting; but there is still plenty to go over this week.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/9/23:

• Bankers Helping Bankers Fund (BHB Fund) is at it again – Huge shout out to Community Capital as the latest recipient of an investment round from the BHB Fund!!!

• ICYMI - the FDIC, Federal Reserve, and OCC issued final joint guidance designed to help banking organizations manage risks associated with third-party relationships, including relationships with financial technology companies.  “The final guidance covers risk management practices for the stages in the life cycle of third-party relationships: planning, due diligence and third-party selection, contract negotiation, ongoing monitoring, and termination,” the regulators said in a statement.
  • Here is the full 68-page doc - Interagency Guidance on Third-Party Relationships: Risk Management; and below are some key observations from Uncle Sean:
    • A tailored approach to risk management – “not all third-party relationships present the same risks.”
    • Monitor third parties on an ongoing basis, and to direct-test the third party’s controls.  Beware of pivots in business model.
    • This part really stood out to me – particularly from a BaaS platform provider / Connector model…  👀
      • Third-party relationships may involve subcontracting arrangements, which can result in risk due to the absence of a direct relationship between the banking organization and the subcontractor, further lessening the banking organization’s direct control of activities.
    • As did this part…
      • The use of third parties does not diminish or remove banking organizations’ responsibilities to ensure that activities are performed in a safe and sound manner and in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, including but not limited to those designed to protect consumers (such as fair lending laws and prohibitions against unfair, deceptive or abusive acts or practices) and those addressing financial crimes.
        • As Uncle Sean likes to say, “you can delegate responsibility, but you cannot delegate accountability.”
    • One of the better summaries I saw was this update from Strategic Risk Associates (SRA – credit Michael Glotz and Edward Vincent) - BaaS Banks should view their FinTech partnerships as a digital branch of the bank encompassing all laws and regulations related to the services being offered.  Nailed it!!!

• It was pretty much just a matter of time since the Wells Notices went out earlier this year….  Nonetheless, the SEC was busy this week with largely expected crypto crackdown aimed at Coinbase and Binance:
  • SEC Charges Coinbase for Operating as an Unregistered Securities Exchange, Broker, and Clearing Agency
  • SEC Files 13 Charges Against Binance Entities and Founder Changpeng Zhao
    • Binance.US (the American subsidiary) announced on Twitter that due to pressures from regulators and banking partners, they “are suspending USD deposits and notifying customers that our banking partners are preparing to pause fiat (USD) withdrawal channels as early as June 13, 2023. We encourage customers to take appropriate action with their USD.”  YIKES!!!! 😬

• SEC Chair Gary Gensler went even further with an appearance on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" stating, “Look, we don’t need more digital currency. We already have digital currency. It’s called the U.S. dollar. It’s called the euro or it’s called the yen; they’re all digital right now. We already have digital investments.”

• Momnt (real-time lending and payment solutions for businesses) partners with Cross River to allow Momnt’s merchant customer base to offer flexible financing solutions to their customers.

• Another CU buying a bank.  This week it is Nusenda FCU (Charter #948; $4.1B Total Assets) to acquire Western Heritage Bank (Cert. #35492; $335M Total Assets).
  • Scorecard – this is the fourth CU acquisition of a bank so far for 2023.  That compares to 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (Source: FedFis).

• CFPB released a new issue spotlight on the use of chatbots by financial institutions.

• Also CFPB related….  PGX Holdings (parent company for credit repair company Progrexion that operates under several brands such as creditrepair.com, credit.com and Lexington Law) filed for bankruptcy citing a recent loss in a court case brought by the CFPB over its billing for credit repair services – to which the CFPB is seeking a whopping $3B in damages.  WOWZA!!! 😲

• Sable (fintech challenger with immigrant focus including debit, int’l transfers, and secured charge card credit builder program) is no longer accepting account applications and will be sunsetting on June 22, 2023.

• Bringing sexy back to fixed income (LOL)…  Wealthfront launches Automated Bond Portfolio currently featuring 5.48% blended 30-day SEC yield.  Designed to provide less risk than equities with a higher yield and more liquidity than a variety of popular fixed-income products including CDs, I-bonds and Treasury bills.

• American Express partners with Yodlee for customer-permissioned data sharing.

• Qorbis (embedded finance for business) has partnered with Mbanq (BaaS platform provider) to enhance international capabilities and brand control with full regulatory compliance.

• BitGo to acquire Prime Trust further strengthening BitGo’s custody, settlement and compliance functions; as well as integrating Prime Trust’s “world-class network of banking partners and payment rails, crypto IRA, and additional wealth management offerings.”

• Congratulations to Jacqueline L. White as the newly appointed President at i2C Inc (issuer processor for banks and fintech companies).

• Amazon Pay taps Affirm to be the first US BNPL provider as Affirm continues to roll out their Adaptive Checkout technology in the US.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Keeta (instant and secure cross-border payments) announced $17M in funding and has launched with a network of interconnected real-time payment rails capable of processing more than 50 million transactions per second with the goal of making international payments “as easy as Venmo.”
  • LendingStandard (CRE financing) raised $6.7M in Equity financing.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• This week we recognized the 79th anniversary of D-Day – USA Today has a good read.
• New York goes Up in Smoke (Canadian wildfires, not Cheech & Chong- LOL)… 😷
• Congratulations to OU Softball Team for winning their 3rd straight National Championship and ending the season with a 61-1 record which is now the highest final winning percentage (.984) in Division I history, surpassing UCLA's 1992 squad that finished 54-2 (.964).  WOW!!!!
• You can stop scrolling now – LOL!!!!  Here are the Dad Jokes:
  • Mr. Peanut’s last words were, “bye honey, I’ll be back in a Jif….” 😊
  • I wonder if clouds look down at us and say, “hey look – that one is shaped like an idiot!”
  • They say money can’t buy happiness….  So just send it all to me and I will test that theory once and for all.
  • The easiest way to quit being vegan is cold turkey…… 🦃🍗😆🤣

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

​Happy Friday!!!
 
WOWZA – short weeks always seem to be the busiest; and this week is certainly no exception!  Don’t forget to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update delivered straight to your inbox each week!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/2/23:
 

• Congratulations to Marco Perez and our friends at BANCreach for the official launch of their app-based lead generation platform and commercial loan marketplace.  Check them out at bancreach.com.

 

• Bankers Helping Bankers is at it again!  This week we give a high-five to Agent IQ as the recipient of a strategic investment from the Bankers Helping Bankers Fund (BHB Fund).

 

• ICYMI – the debt ceiling crisis has been averted.  As part of the deal, it looks like student loan payments to resume 60 days after June 30.

 

• It’s here!!! The FDIC released their Quarterly Banking Profile report for 1Q2023.  Pardon me while I completely geek out here (it’s what I do) – LOL!!!  😊  Some key points:
  • Net Income was largely flat over last quarter if you exclude the FDIC receivership effect of the two failed banks.  YoY NI grew 33.6% and ROA was 1.36% versus 1.01% in March of last year.
  • NIM compression is beginning (as expected) – NIM declined 7 bps to 3.31% as Cost of Funds increased due to borrowings and deposit competition (“rate lag”).
    • For my non-banker friends, this means that deposit costs (interest that the bank pays on deposits) is increasing faster than the increased yield on loans (interest that the bank earns on loans).
    • Compounding this is the continued decline in deposits forcing banks to offset that liquidity draw by more costlier wholesale funding.
  • Unrealized losses (the marquee headline as a trigger for 1Q liquidity issues) declined by 16.5% to $515B – but to be fair, there were plenty of securities sales at a loss resulting in an accounting classification to recognized losses.
    • Of the $515B in unrealized losses, approximately $231B is attributable to AFS Securities and $284B for HTM gap from amortized cost versus fair value.
      • Worth noting is that the balance of $93.6B in borrowings related to the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) is remaining fairly consistent.
    • Deposits were down a substantial $472.1B or 2.5% over last quarter and 6% YoY.
      • This is the 4th straight quarterly decline and the largest single quarter decline on record since data collection began in 1984.  Primarily attributed to a decrease in Estimated Uninsured Deposits (the other marquee headline as a trigger for 1Q liquidity issues) by $663.3B or 8.3%.  Insured deposits actually increased 2.5%.
  • Asset Quality remains good despite some small signs of deterioration – early delinquencies and net charge-offs are increasing, but still below pre-pandemic levels.
  • The FDIC Problem Bank List grew from 39 banks with assets totaling $47B in 4Q2022 to 43 banks with assets totaling $58B in 1Q2023.
  • Uncle Sean’s completely unsolicited punchline – look for higher funding costs to continue to compress NIM as we hope for a soft landing for the consumer and remain in a “wait and see” mode on CRE specifically related to office space.  
    • Full disclosure – I had WAY too much fun going through all of this…  I need a hobby!  😝

 

• Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve issued their Beige Book showing little change in overall economic activity in April and early May.  Commercial construction and real estate activity decreased overall with office segment continuing to be a weak spot.

 

• BLS Jobs Report this week added a jaw-dropping 339K jobs in May 😮 (+190K expected, +253K in April); and unemployment increased to 3.7% (3.5% expected, 3.4% in April which was the lowest since 1969).
  • CNBC noted that his is the 29th straight month of positive job growth.  Uncle Sean can’t help but wonder what the FOMC will think about that…. 😬

 

• Unbanked (crypto banking platform) announced they will be winding down operations and encouraged existing customer to begin withdrawing funds.

 

• Credit Union of America (charter #60062; Total Assets $1.4B) launched Narmi’s digital account opening.  Narmi also collaborated with Clutch to integrate loan services as part of the account opening process.  “This integration will allow Credit Union of America’s members to apply for both loan services and deposit accounts in one unified digital experience.”

 

• All In FCU (Charter #17642; Total Assets $2.8B) to acquire SunSouth Bank (Cert #18600; Total Assets $114M).
  • Scorecard – this is the third CU acquisition of a bank so far for 2023.  That compares to 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (Source: FedFis).

 

• Worldpay (recently spun off from FIS) and Affirm announced a multi-year partnership to make Affirm’s Adaptive Checkout™ (with BNPL installment options) available to all eligible Worldpay merchants.

 

• Dwolla announced Lawrence Herman as new CFO as well as Alka Gupta and Millicent Tracey as new board members.

 

• Cross River announced a strategic partnership with paymints.io to provide stakeholders involved in RE transactions to “track funds in real-time, verify transactions, and enjoy a heightened sense of security and trust throughout the entire real estate transaction journey.”

 

• Yeah, probably a good time for a reminder considering the buzz surrounding insured deposits – especially for younger adults…..  The CFPB issued a Consumer Advisory this week reminding consumers that money stored in many popular non-bank payment apps (PayPal, Venmo, Cash App) is at greater risk of loss as it is often not protected by federal deposit insurance.
  • “Popular digital payment apps are increasingly used as substitutes for a traditional bank or credit union account but lack the same protections to ensure that funds are safe,” CFPB Director Rohit Chopra said.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Mobility Capital Finance, Inc. (MoCaFi – fintech platform focused on underserved communities) raised $23.5M in Series B funding round.
  • Boom (rent credit reporting platform) raised $4.5M Seed round
  • Vartana (CRM-embedded, B2B sales checkout platform with integrated trade credit financing) raised $20M in Series B funding following 600% YoY growth.
  • PayNearMe (omnichannel payments platform) raised $45M in Series D funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Hard to believe we are already in June!!!  I’m sneaking out a little early today (don’t tell the Boss), so let’s get straight to the important stuff…  Dad Jokes!!!
  • What is a Ninja’s favorite drink?  WATAH!!! 🥷
    • Now I am running around the house with my best fake karate moves yelling, “WATAH!!!”  Aunt Patty is clearly impressed with my skillset – LOL!!!!
  • If you put your left shoe on the wrong foot, it is on the right foot….
  • Uncle Sean’s deep thought of the week - A pizza is literally a real-time pie chart of how much pizza pie is remaining….. 🤓🍕
  • Every year on June 1, I feel dismayed…  Hehehehehe!!!!!
  • And finally, a classic Uncle Sean truism – “nothing makes a fish bigger than almost being caught!!!” 😆

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

​Happy Friday & Happy Memorial Day Weekend!!!
 
Wishing everyone a very Happy Memorial Day as we honor those servicemen and servicewomen who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 5/26/23:
 

• 👀 Certainly worth noting as Uncle Sean suspects we will see more of this from all regulatory authorities….  This week the OCC published a couple of regulatory updates:
  • The first was the updated "Liquidity" booklet of the Comptroller’s Handbook providing guidance on liquidity risk.  Some key area I found to be particularly interesting:
    • Surge Deposits, Reciprocal Deposits (deposit network services), increases in Borrowed Funds (and CoF).
  • Next came updates to the Bank Enforcement Manual to address actions against banks with persistent weaknesses.  The newly added Appendix C specifies, “Should a bank fail to correct its persistent weaknesses in response to prior enforcement actions or other measures, including those outlined above, the OCC will consider further action to require the bank to remediate the weaknesses. Such action could require the bank to simplify or reduce its operations, including that the bank reduce its asset size, divest subsidiaries or business lines, or exit from one or more markets of operation.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean)
    • While the target is for banks above $50B in Assets, the OCC reserves the right to apply Appendix C to any bank “with operations that are highly complex or otherwise present a heightened risk.”
    • All of this ties in with Acting Comptroller Michael Hsu’s January comments regarding “too big to manage.”

 

• Pardon me while I geek out for a moment 😊 but Uncle Sean is seeing some good news on bank liquidity stress - Federal Reserve H.4.1 release on 5/25 showed the Bank Term Funding Program (BTFP) is working with $92B loaned out.  Meanwhile, primary credit from the discount window has dropped off to a more normalized $4B (down from $152.8B during that tumultuous week of March 15).

 

• More market sensing – JPMorgan Chase had their Investor Day this week.  No, I’m not going to cover all of this thankfully – but I do pay attention when they present about their credit reserves and forecasts on credit.  Afterall, they have a lot of economists on the payroll there so we might as well all benefit.  LOL!!!
  • I really liked the Firm Overview deck and in particular, slide 17 – “Credit remains benign, but we expect continued normalization throughout the year.”  Some cool points:
    • Reserved for peak unemployment forecast of 5.8% in late 2024
    • Building reserves as credit outlook has deteriorated; but expecting a return to normal (pre-pandemic) Net Charge-off’s of 0.6% by the end of 2023 after pandemic lows of 0.3%

 

• Venmo (by PayPal) announced the launch of the Venmo Teen Account (beginning June 2023) allowing parents and legal guardians to open a Venmo account for their teenagers between the ages of 13 – 17 with parental controls managed by the parent’s personal Venmo account.  The account also comes with a Mastercard debit card.

 

• PacWest Bancorp (Nasdaq: PACW; BHC for Pacific Western Bank) had a couple of asset sale announcements this week – I feel it is important to state that these have been well scripted and publicized by PacWest since the 4th quarter as they focus on their strategy of relationship-based community banking; and NOT a reflection of any recent market driven liquidity paranoia BS…  Okay – I’m better now, LOL!
  • PacWest Bancorp 5-19-2023 8K disclosing they are selling 74 RE construction loans with a value of $2.6B to a subsidiary of Kennedy-Wilson Holdings.  PacWest is also in the process of selling an additional 6 RE construction loans with a value of about $363M to Kennedy-Wilson pending due diligence.
  • Roc Capital Holdings (Roc360) announced they have purchased the RE origination assets of Civic Financial Services (CIVIC) from PacWest – pricing was not disclosed.

 

• Fifth Third Bancorp (Nasdaq: FITB) announced acquisition of Rize Money (embedded payments platform for fintech and other non-financial institutions) to enhance Fifth Third’s treasury management business.

 

• Daylight (neobank targeting the LGBTQ+ community) announced they are shutting down operations effective June 30.

 

• Marstone (digital wealth tech) partners with Red River Employees FCU (RRCU; Charter 5029; $1.4B Total Assets) to provide RRCU’s 115,000 members with digital wealth management platform.

 

• Good news for my Ag Banker friends – The seven basin states have reached an agreement to cut consumption and protect the Colorado River System.  A longer term agreement will need to be made as the current form only applies through 2026, but it is an excellent start with all parties understanding that conservation is critical.
  • Note California’s $50B agricultural industry as a major point of influence.

 

• Airbnb selects Stripe to offer Pay-by-Bank as a payment option for guests with a US bank account.

 

• Plastiq (business payments platform) filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy citing a series of events from a failed SPAC merger to the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and with plans for a stalking horse sale to Priority Technology Holdings Inc.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Onyx (neo bank targeting affluent younger professionals) raised $4.1M in new capital.
  • Episode Six (payment processing and digital ledger infrastructure) raised $48M in Series C funding round.
  • OpenFin (workspaces and developer platform for FIs) $35M in Series D round.
  • Unlimited (alt investment firm) raised $8M in Series A.
  • Pesto (alternative credit builder) raised $11M in Series A funding and takes on the pawn shop industry by launching the first asset-backed secured Mastercard consumer credit card.
  • Nymbus (FI tech vendor) raised $70M in Series D funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• It’s Graduation Weekend for many parents including me and Aunt Patty!!!  Special shout out to Ms. Claire for graduating with honors today – Mom and Dad are SUPER proud of you!!!!
• Some quick Dad Jokes and then it’s time to get started with the weekend and graduation festivities:
  • Everyone knows that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone - but his brother, Taco, was working on some pretty important stuff too.
  • No matter how much you push the envelope, it’s still stationery…  😝
  • Is bacon grease an essential oil (asking for a friend)?
  • I just paid $3 for a Smartwater…  Obviously it’s not working…
  • Aunt Patty and I went to a restaurant and the manager greeted us and asked if I minded waiting a little bit.  I said, “no problem at all” and then he said “good – take these drinks to table four.”  😲 LOL!!!!

 
 
Have a GREAT Memorial 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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #FedFisHasTheData FedFis
 
FedFis, LLC disclaimer – The views and opinions of Uncle Sean are of his own and may not necessarily represent the views, endorsements, and/or opinions of FedFis, LLC – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.
 

Happy Friday!!!
 
Very happy to report plenty of good news, financial wellness programs, and awesome partnerships this week - Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 5/19/23:

• Congratulations to Lise Kruse for being elected as the new CSBS Chair!!!!

 

• Uncle Sean loves this – two firms that I have great respect for doing great things together!  DCI and MOCA sign two banks to digital account platform featuring MOCA’s Digital-First NextGen Card-Based Payment Platform integrated with DCI’s advanced core processing and digital banking solutions.  Love it!!!!

 

• Plinqit (automated savings and financial wellness platform) partners with Sonata Bank to help the banks customers [particularly targeting the quick service restaurant (QSR) franchisees and their employees] grow savings while boosting their knowledge of personal financial wellness.  Uncle Sean is a huge advocate of financial literacy and financial wellness programs at all levels, so I am happy to see this.  😊

 

• More financial wellness…  Just in time for the upcoming student debt repayment moratorium expiration – PNC Bank announced PNC Student Debt Solution, powered by Candidly™ as an employee benefit platform for their business customers.  Nice work!!!!

 

• And even more financial wellness…  Truist Foundry (the division within Truist Bank focused on creating digital solutions) announced the launch of the Truist Long Game mobile app to help users build healthy financial habits with the chance to earn rewards deposited into a linked Truist deposit account.
  • Recall that Truist acquired the fintech Long Game back in May 2022.  The original Long Game “founder Lindsay Holden and her team now make up Truist Foundry, a cross-functional team with the goal of leading innovative growth to help Truist shape the future of finance for clients.”

 

• Arteria AI (digital documentation infrastructure) announced a strategic partnership with Compliance Systems (some great folks over there) to provide a joint solution that will provide community financial institutions with “streamlined, compliant digital documentation in a single solution giving them enhanced collaboration, workflow and data capabilities while driving efficiency and operationalizing the data within their documents” regardless of size / asset class.
  • Worth noting that Compliance Systems will be rebranding to TruStageTM Compliance Solutions.

 

• Meridian Bank (FDIC 57777; Total Assets $2.2B) partners with Corserv card issuing platform to launch a new business credit card program.

 

• Maxwell (Mortgage-as-a-Service B2B platform) announced the acquisition of LenderSelect Mortgage Group from Blue Ridge Bank (who had previously acquired LenderSelect back in Jan 2020) – pricing was not disclosed.  Check out their end-to-end platform including private label origination at himaxwell.com.

 

• The Federal Reserve released their semiannual Supervision and Regulation Report – Uncle Sean found the “Banking System Conditions” section to be really cool with a lot of good macro level data certainly worth paying attention to.
  • "Overall, banks have strong capital and liquidity, enabling them to lend and provide financial services to households and businesses," Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr said in written remarks issued Monday. "At the same time, recent stress in the banking system shows the need for us to be vigilant as we assess and respond to risks."

 

• Wells Fargo agrees to pay $1 billion to settle shareholders' class-action lawsuit related to their (uh... well… um… ahem…) previous lawsuits - Yikes!!! 😲

 

• And finally, it was a busy week in Washington with plenty of bank related hearings from both the Senate and the House.  I’m not going to dig into this (thankfully as this dead horse has been beaten enough in the media), but if you really want to check some of it out – here is a pretty good list:
  • Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michael S. Barr - full written testimony.
  • Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu - oral statement as well as full written testimony.
  • FDIC Chairman Martin J. Gruenberg - full testimony.
  • NCUA Chairman Todd M. Harper - oral testimony as well as full written testimony.
  • Former Chief Executive Officer and President, First Republic Bank - testimony of Michael J. Roffler.
  • Banking Dive has a pretty good summary of the somewhat fiery testimony of SVB and Signature Bank execs.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Zip (intake-to-pay platform) raised $100M in Series C funding round at a $1.5B valuation
  • Tipalti (end-to-end business payables platform) raised $150M in Growth Financing following $270M in Series F back in 2021.
  • Cardless (co-branded credit cards) secured a 3-year $75M credit facility.
  • Percent (credit marketplace) raised $30M in Series B funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• It could be worse…..  Argentina just raised their benchmark interest rate by 600 bps to 97%....  WHOOF!!!!
• Texans everywhere are rejoicing as Bluebell and Dr Pepper team up to create new Dr Pepper Float flavored ice cream!!!!! Oh Yeah!!! 🤠
• You can stop scrolling now – LOL!!!!  Here are the Dad Jokes for the week!!!!
  • I set my ring tone to the theme from ‘Titanic’ – now my phone won’t quit syncing….  Hehehehehe!!!!
  • Does Sangria wine count as liquified fruit salad…???  Asking for a friend!!! 😊
  • In the South, chicken coups can’t have more than two doors – because if it had four it would be a chicken sedan….  (eyes rolling)…
  • Aunt Patty said I have C.D.O….  It’s like O.C.D. but all the letters are in alphabetical order as they should be!  😝

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