Uncle Sean's Update - 10/18/24

​Happy Friday!!!
 
It was a really light week in the news (thankfully – LOL), but some important updates nonetheless!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/18/24:

• 💥 Cambridge Savings Bank (FDIC 17870; Total Assets $7.1B) announced that Ivy Bank, their direct digital bank division, has surpassed $1B in deposits and added over 14,000 customers since its launch in 2021 – HOLY SMOKES!!!
  • As many of you already know, Uncle Sean is a huge fan of the direct digital bank model (think of this like the bank launching their own fintech brand – many times with its own diversified tech stack, but without many of the TPRM and ledger issues that Sponsor Banks face) and I am stoked to see the success here! 😊
    • Begs the question….  As we see the yield curve correct, continued NII / NIM growth, and AOCI issues begin to disappear in a declining rate environment – will we see banks start to seriously explore acquiring B2B and B2C fintech companies for instant deposit and noninterest income growth / diversification??? 🤷‍♂️

 

• 👀 Fiserv continues its SMB push through its partnership with Walmart…  Walmart (through its Walmart Business division) is expanding its relationship with Fiserv by announcing the ability for Walmart Business customers to access solutions from Clover with a $500 discount on Clover products through January of next year as well as a $100 gift-card to customers who sign up for a merchant account. 
  • 👉 This expands on last month’s PR where Walmart is partnering with Fiserv (NOW Network) to offer real-time pay-by-bank to its customers beginning in 2025.  Nice!!!! 😊

 

• Some big numbers here….  Nacha announced Same Day ACH volume rose 67.5% in the 3rd quarter 2024 and total ACH Network payment volume rose 7.4% from a year earlier. 🚀  More specifics:
  • 355.2 million Same Day ACH payments in the third quarter (up 67.5% YoY); the value of those payments rose 38.8% to $844 billion.
  • Total third quarter ACH Network volume was 8.4 billion payments valued at $21.5 trillion, respective increases of 7.4% and 8.9% over a year earlier.

 

• Meanwhile….  Early Warning Services, LLC., the network operator of Zelle® , announced their own set of big numbers 💥 sporting nearly half a trillion dollars sent in first half of 2024, specifically noting:
  • 143 million enrolled users (up from 17 million in 1H2023); $481B sent in 1.7B transactions, up 28% and 27% YoY, respectively; more than 2,200 banks and CUs on the network.

 

• 👀 Galileo (owned by SoFi which is a nationally chartered bank) has launched Cyberbank Core for commercial payments and sponsor banking, with SoFi as the inaugural customer, to power a range of payment services to commercial clients, including debit, prepaid, ACH and wire transactions, and associated banking services.
  • Hmmm…  🤔 It will be very interesting to see if this remains a payments type core; or if it evolves into something more…

 

• Speaking of SoFi…  Nova Credit announced an expansion of its multi-year relationship with SoFi by enabling SoFi to access consumer-permissioned bank data and cash flow analytics through Nova Credit’s Cash Atlas™ solution.

 

• And more SoFi news….  SoFi and Best Egg both get boosts from private credit to grow their loan platforms.  Fortress Investment Group has extended $2 billion loan platform business agreement for personal loans to SoFi; and Best Egg recently secured a $500M purchase facility to enable personal loans – also from Fortress.

 

• Long rumored, but now it’s done…  Barclays (through their Barclays US Consumer Bank) to replace Goldman Sachs as the exclusive issuer of the GM Rewards Mastercard and the GM Business Mastercard credit card in the US beginning next summer.

 

• Flex (financial solutions for renters and property management companies) has partnered with FairPlay to utilize FairPlay’s advanced algorithmic fairness solution to ensure fairness, transparency, and compliance for Flex and their customers.

 

• Amount unveiled its new Unified Account Opening and Loan Origination Platform for banks and credit unions.

 

• More open banking headlines…  Mastercard debuts Mastercard Connect Plus, a data-consent command center and new enhanced identity and device intelligence features to “give consumers control of where, how and with whom their financial data is shared.”  Mastercard is piloting Connect Plus this year and expects to expand to full availability in the U.S. in 2025.  Very much needed in our new (and relatively unfamiliar) world of open banking!!!! 👍

 

• Navigant Credit Union (Charter 62882; Total Assets $3.8B) selects Baker Hill for its commercial loan operations. Per the article, Baker Hill is able to integrate directly within Navigant’s Fiserv DNA core, which Baker Hill says will allow the credit union to “leverage data in multiple instances, instead of being burdened with redundant data entry”.

 

• New York Community Bancorp (NYSE: NYCB), the holding company of Flagstar Bank, N.A. (FDIC 32541; total assets $119B), announced they will change their name to Flagstar Financial, Inc. effective Oct 25, 2024 and will also change their ticker symbol to FLG.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏆 It’s official!!!!  Coming in at a whopping 2,471 pounds 🎃 - Travis Gienger, a Minnesota horticulture teacher, is the 4 time reigning champ 🏆 of the 51st World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off contest in Northern California (a 35 hour drive from MN).  Gienger said the pumpkins next stop will be in Southern California, where a team of professional carvers will do a 3D carve on it at a Halloween event.
• You now what time it is….  It’s Dad / Bad Joke time!!!
  • It’d be a lot cooler if we just called electricians “Power Rangers” ⚡
  • When bald people wash their faces, how high do they go up? 🤔
  • You ever get up in the middle of the night to get a drink of water and end up eating an entire pepperoni pizza and a key lime pie???   Asking for a friend… 😬🤠
  • Whenever I get something stuck in my throat, I just dislodge it with a cold beer…  It’s called the Heineken Maneuver… 🍺😊
  • And my favorite for this week…  When you have cheese but no crackers…  You be CRACKA-LACKIN!!! 😂🤣

 
 
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.