Uncle Sean's Update - 11/4/22

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Coming at you live this week from our 2022 Roundup Conference which was AWESOME – already looking forward to 2023!!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 11/4/22:
 

• WOW – what an AMAZING time at our FedFis Roundup Conference sponsored by IBAT!!!! 
  • Our opening panel on Day 1 featuring “bank born products” clearly set the tone of open collaboration between community banks.  Special thank you to Marco Perez with their BANCreach product, as well as Brad Womack with Kleberg Bank and their FINTX rewards platform, and of course Mike Fernandez with Texas National Bank in Sweetwater and their newly launched Bankers Lender product (which is actually a direct digital bank).  This wasn’t just a product showcase, it was an open discussion of WHY and (more importantly) HOW they built it.
    • Also – quick tip of the hat to Chris Bibb – “go Bibb or go home!”  LOL!!!!
  • Day 2 was a whirlwind of roundtable discussions and finished up at Luckenbach, TX with BBQ and The Bellamy Brothers band!
  • Our last day of the Roundup was “BaaS Day” – my absolute favorite!!!!!  Shout out to Eugene Shvartsman with Cross River for delivering a consistent message of open cooperation and collaboration between community banks to strengthen each other….  This was undeniably the common theme at the Roundup this year.  Uncle Sean is seeing an exciting transformation in the industry and a new definition of the term “community” amongst community bankers.  I am so proud to be a part of this passionate movement - very cool!!!  😊

 

• It’s Fed Week!  Yep, the FOMC raised rates 75 basis points, as expected, for the fourth consecutive time this year bringing the target Fed Funds target rate to 3.75% - 4.00%.  Although there were hints that the Fed “might” slow the rate increases going forward, Chairman Powel made it clear in the press conference that it was premature to discuss any pause in rate increases.  And the stock market completely threw up – LOL!
  • For the full info in case you want to get your “inner Fed Geek” on like me:
    • Chairman Powell Press Conference transcript (23 pgs)
    • Press Conference video (45 minutes)

 

• More macroeconomic data this week that seems to set the stage for continued tightening of monetary policy…..
  • BLS JOLT Report released this week showed that job openings actually rose in September to 10.7 million, reversing a downward trend from July and August.
  • The October Jobs Report also came in stronger than expected with an increase of 261,000 (estimate was 205,000) with unemployment rising to 3.7% (estimate was 3.5%) while the labor force participation rate decreased to 62.2%.  Keeping in mind that the unemployment rate and labor force participation rate have shown very little change since early this year.  Notable job gains were in the health care, professional and technical services, and manufacturing sectors.

 

• JPMorgan Chase takes another page from the fintech playbook and launches Story, a property management platform to allow residents to automate rent payments, receive notifications, and view payment history and leas agreements through an online dashboard.  Landlords and renters do not have to be JPM customers to use the platform – scheduled to be released more broadly next year.   

 

• Bend by FNBO (First National Bank of Omaha’s new Credit-as-a-Service solution) and Marqeta team up to launch the Greenlight Family Cash Mastercard® credit card.

 

• Koffie Financial announced the launch of a credit card made specifically for trucking fleets.  The Koffie Card is a Mastercard CC managed by Power, a full-stack CC issuing platform.

 

• Here’s another CU buying a bank…  This time it is Wings Financial Credit Union (Charter 68601; Apple Valley, MN; $8B Total Assets) announced an agreement to acquire Settlers Bank (FDIC 58651; Deforest, WI; $350M Total Assets).
  • If you are keeping track, this makes 11 announced acquisitions of a bank by a CU so far for the year.  This compares to 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (Source: FedFis).

 

• Ugh - and the layoffs continue in the FinTech space this week alone:
  • Stripe announced they are cutting about 14% of their workforce, approximately 1,140 employees worldwide, citing challenging economic conditions.
  • Opendoor (online real estate platform) lays off 18% of their workforce, about 550 employees, citing “one of the most challenging real estate markets in 40 years…”
  • Chime also announced they are cutting 12% of staff, about 160 employees, as well as “re-calibrating marketing spend, decreasing the number of contractors, adjusting workspace needs and renegotiating vendor contractors.”
  • Upstart (online personal loan platform)  sheds 7%, about 140 employees, citing a “challenging economy” as well.
  • Lyft also announced job cuts totaling 17% of their workforce.
  • And lastly, CNBC is reporting that Wells Fargo mortgage team braces for layoffs as loan volumes drop.
  • However – not all is gloom and doom as American Banker (behind a paywall so I’m not posting the actual link) is reporting that American Express, Visa, Mastercard, and Discover are all bulking up on hiring with particular emphasis on data science, software, and technology roles.

 

• Now here’s a divestiture that you don’t see every day…..  TIAA entered into a definitive agreement to sell the bank (TIAA, FSB; FDIC 34775; $37.6B Total Assets) in order to “refocus on the company’s retirement business and Nuveen, its asset manager."

 

• The Huntington National Bank (Nasdaq: HBAN; FDIC 6560; $179B Total Assets) selects LiquidX to scale the bank's trade finance infrastructure.  This is exciting to me as Uncle Sean is an old ‘Credit Risk Superfreak’ in the world of trade finance / vendor finance / and supply chain finance solutions.  Woot-woot!!!

 

• Just in case you missed it – the Treasury Department sold a record $979M of I Bonds before the repricing deadline last Friday - nearly as much in one day as they did during three years from 2018 to 2020.  WOWZA!!!!

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Lama AI (AI based business lending platform for FI’s as well as embedded lending for fintech / SMBs) raised $9M in Seed funding.
  • Fursure (mobile banking, pet insurance, and rewards platform for pet owners) raised  $3M in Seed funding
  • Onward (co-parenting money management app) raised $9.7M in Series A funding round.
  • Arta (digital family office / alt investing platform) raised $90M in capital and emerged from stealth.
  • Zest AI (automated underwriting platform) raised $50M in growth capital.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• The Houston Astros tied the 7 game World Series at 2-2 with a no-hitter on Wednesday night against the Philadelphia Phillies.  Thursday brought another nail biter as Houston held on for a 3-2 victory and now leads the series 3 to 2 with the final 2 games slated for Saturday and Sunday in Houston.  GO STROS!!!!

• Well, ole Elon Musk temporarily closed Twitter offices and told employees to stay home out of “safety concerns” after letting them know they will be informed by email later in the day whether they are being laid off…..
  • Okay – WHAT A JACKASS – yeah, I said that…  C’mon man!  There is no need to publicly humiliate your staff (with immense national media coverage) and invite this much unnecessary stress and anxiety for folks that were sent home to wait and see if they get the bad email or not.  I guess there is no easy way to do this, but it sure feels like it could have been handled in a much more respectful way.  For a super intelligent dude, it sure seems like his emotional IQ is severely lacking at times.  But I’m sure my unsolicited opinion doesn’t cause him to lose any sleep at all – LOL!

• And a big shout out to Jeremy Neuharth with Sycorr for providing me plenty of Dad Joke material at our conference – he was handing these out and of course Uncle Sean could not resist:
  • How does cereal pay its bills?  With Chex.
  • What do you call a dead Magician?  An abracadaver…
  • How do you make a water bed bouncier?  Add spring water!  😝
  • What’s Forrest Gump’s password?  1forrest1

 
 
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.