Uncle Sean's Update - 11/22/24

Happy Friday!!!
 
Plenty to be thankful for as we get ready to head into Thanksgiving week 🙏.  From all of us here at FedFis, we certainly hope that each of you are able to spend some relaxing time with family, friends, and loved ones as we march full steam ahead into the Holiday season.🎄❤️  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/22/24:
 

• 💥 Headlining this week is a special shout out to my friends at FinPro for their sponsorship as "Friends of Bankers Helping Bankers" (BHB).  Full disclosure – I really, really like these folks as they are highly intelligent, articulate, and motivated; and I’m very excited to continue to collaborate with the FinPro Team as we share so many common interests in supporting community banks and responsible innovation.  Be sure to follow FinPro, Inc. on LinkedIn (I love the short and informative videos)!!!

 

• 👀 The CSBS joins a growing list of industry pundits pushing back on the recent FDIC NPR on Brokered Deposit Reclassification by issuing a formal statement stating the proposal “is flawed and should be rescinded in its entirety.” 👏

 

• The Office of Financial Research released their released their 2024 Annual Report to Congress highlighting risks and vulnerabilities than can impair U.S. financial stability.
  • 👉 The punchline is that most vulnerabilities remain unchanged from the prior year.  The report covers Asset Markets, Business and Households, Financial Institutions (begins on pg 50), and Money Markets.
    • Here is the full 111 page 2024 Annual Report if you want to dig in.

 

• And a couple of CFPB announcements this week:
  • In light of the failure (fraudulent misconduct) of First National Bank of Lindsay, CFPB Director Rohit Chopra, issued a statement on deposit insurance reform calling on Congress to either “remove — or at least dramatically increase — limits on federal deposit insurance for payroll and other non-interest bearing operating accounts.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean)
  • CFPB issues Final Rule on Oversight of Digital Payment Apps.  The biggest takeaway is the higher threshold targeting companies that handle more than 50 million transactions per year (up from the original 5 million); and limits the rule to transactions in U.S. dollars (exempting “digital currencies”).  Payments Dive has a good summary.  The rule is set to go into effect 30 days after it’s published in the Federal Register

 

• Meanwhile, the FDIC has extended the comment period by 45-days to Jan 16, 2025 for the FDIC NPR on recordkeeping for custodial accounts.  The original NPR published on Sep 17 aims to “strengthen recordkeeping for bank deposits received from third party, non-bank companies accepting those deposits on behalf of consumers and businesses.”  Also referred to as the “Synapse Rule.”

 

• 👀 Moody’s announced they have acquired Numerated as Moody’s continues to build out their end-to-end loan origination and monitoring platform.

 

• And more continued Small Business focus coming from some big players…  Fiserv (NYSE: FI) and ADP (Nasdaq: ADP) announced a strategic partnership to empower small business success by bringing together Fiserv’s Clover® and CashFlow CentralSM, with the industry-leading small business payroll and HR solution, RUN Powered by ADP®.  NICE!!!! 😊🚀

 

• Charlie (the fintech banking app for Americans aged 62+) announced the release of Family FraudShield, a free conversational guide to help Americans talk with their older relatives about financial fraud – particularly during the Holiday season.

 

• DR Bank (FDIC 58257; total assets $704M) is using Upstart's small-dollar loan product providing a fast, simple, and affordable solution for the banks customers facing urgent financial challenges via Upstart’s AI-powered digital lending model (Nasdaq: UPST).  The relief loans are available in amounts of $250 – $2,500 and for term of 3 – 18 months.

 

• MANTL announced they have selected Pinwheel to be the preferred provider for Direct Deposit Switching for MANTL partners and their consumers.

 

• Knot announced the launch of Knot AccountUpdater allowing “card issuers using Knot’s CardSwitcher™ product to update cardholder details—including card information, name, address, and phone number—across Knot-connected merchants with a single API call, requiring no effort from the cardholder.”

 

• And the winner is….  The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK) has been selected by the U.S. Treasury in a 5-year deal as agent for the Direct Express program, a prepaid debit card program for government benefits to approximately 3.4 million Americans, many of which are unbanked.
  • Per the BNY press release, additional providers to the Direct Express program include Mastercard, Galileo, MoCaFi, Senture, Sunrise Banks, N.A., and Ubiquity Global Services, Inc. 
    • Personally, I love the fact that BNY gave a shoutout to all other participants in the program – nice touch! 👍

 

• Sound Credit Union (Charter 66331; total assets $3B) expands their partnership with Candescent “adding digital account opening and onboarding as well as compelling self-service features such as credit score and continuous verification.”

 

• Michigan State University Federal Credit Union dba MSUFCU (Charter 23279; total assets $8.2B) partners with Reset to deploy Reset’s EWA solution to MSUFCU members.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Kalder (white-label partner rewards platform for brands) raised $10.5M in Seed round capital.
  • Cardo AI (tech platform for asset-based finance and private credit) raised $15M in Series A funding round with FINTOP Capital, JAM FINTOP, and Blackstone Innovations Investments operating as co-leads.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• “OMG the McRib is back” (and of course I am compelled to insert Hangover 3 video clip here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwBSN9xsHac 🤪) beginning Dec 3rd – and you can buy the sauce by the half-gallon jug now if you so fancy!!!
• Looking forward to what is forecasted to be a beautiful Fall weekend here in East Texas with daytime temps around 75 and lows in 40’s – 50’s.  Nice outside firepit weather for sure!!!! 🍺🍷
• We made it – here are the Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • I’m not saying I’m getting old, but I have officially reached the age where sometimes I can’t tell if I'm injured, or if this is just how I walk now!  😊
  • Do clown farts smell funny??? 🤡  OH C’MON – that was funny and you know it!!!! 😂
  • According to my chocolate Advent calendar, there are only three days left until Christmas… 🙃🤷‍♂️
  • And last but not least…  For my Dallas Cowboys 🏈 fans….  The Star is not a logo…  Apparently it’s a “one out of five” rating…. 😢😬

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