Uncle Sean's Update - 1/17/25

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Next Monday is a busy day as we observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday so almost all financial institutions, the stock market, and most schools will be closed.  It’s also Inauguration Day as well as the College Football National Championship game that evening.  But first (chronologically anyway) 🤠,  here is the Uncle Sean Update for 1/17/25:

• 👀 HUGE shout-out to my friends at Integris as a Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) Premier Sponsor!!! 🎉  Sponsorships like this enable BHB to “continue to provide free, high-value resources and events for bankers.”  This is awesome as the Integris Team is nothing short of amazing!!!🚀
  • Integris has a long history of supporting community banks with managed IT services (including cybersecurity, consulting, cloud services, and network connectivity) through their Financial Institution Division.
    • Also worth noting is their recent announcement of their legal practice division specializing in servicing the unique IT needs (including compliance and cybersecurity) for Law Firms.  
      • I found this particularly interesting as I have been seeing more and more banks specializing in banking for Law Firms; and a growing fintech presence for the same specific needs (escrow, trust, and IOLTA bank accounts from a fintech and sponsor bank perspective).  Great cross-functionality from Integris!💥
  • Be sure to check them out at integrisit.com and tell them Uncle Sean sent you! 🤠

• Fresh off the heels of a smoking hot jobs report last week, we get a small bit of “inflationary reprieve” (hey – I’ll take it 😊) as the BLS Dec CPI came in at 2.9% (as expected, last month was 2.7%) with the increase driven in large part by energy (gas prices surged 4.4% for the month).  Core CPI, that excludes volatile food and energy, came in at 3.2% (expectation was 3.3%) and marks the first decrease in Core CPI since July 2024.  I like this CNBC summary – particularly the graphs.
  • Meanwhile,  the Federal Reserve released their Beige Book - January 2025 showing flat to moderate price increases, steady to slight employment increases, and overall economic activity up slightly to moderately driven by strong holiday sales and consumer spending.  Agriculture remained weak overall (weather conditions and avian flu).  Most districts have an optimistic outlook for 2025; but some concerns remain surrounding changes in immigration and tariff policy that could potentially have a negative impact on the economy.

• MONEY, MONEY, MONEY!!! 💰💰💰 Many equity analysts have covered this in great detail so I’ll be brief..  The big banks kicked off earnings season with exceptionally strong profits.  JPM posted the largest ever annual profit of any US bank of $58.5 billion (CHA-CHING). Citi notched a Q4 profit of $2.9B (versus a $1.8B loss in Q42023).  Q4 profits at GS and BofA doubled over 4Q2023; and Wells Fargo Q4 profit was up 47% over 4Q2023.
  • The sky may not be falling after all!! 🤠

• Wealth Access announced an integration with Q2's Digital Banking Platform via the Q2 Partner Accelerator Program.  This allows FIs using Q2’s Digital Banking solutions to rapidly deploy Wealh Access’ deep insights to fuel hyper-personalized banking interactions.

• NBKC Bank (FDIC 35014; total assets $1.1B) selects NCR Atleos Allpoint Network to provide “surcharge-free access to an additional 55,000 ATMs worldwide, in addition to the other ATMs they already have access to, in trusted retail locations across the country where customers already live and shop.”

• Sage Capital Bank (FDIC 25621; total assets $665M) selects Apiture digital banking platform to power the banks online and mobile banking.

• Gate City Bank (FDIC 27774; total assets $3.7B) selects Lama AI for GenAI-powered origination platform for business loans.

• Rellevate (fintech digital banking and payments platform with over 3 million account holders) partners with Highnote for enhanced funding and payment options including: faster transaction speeds; enhanced security; and expanded payment options.

• Indiana Members Credit Union (Charter 68259; total assets $3.3B) selects Lumin Digital for digital banking.

• 👉 Trakker Apps has launched their BaaS fintech platform which delivers real-time integration of banking and accounting in a single, cloud-based system.
  • Most interesting to me (per their website) is their focus on “the unique accounting needs of business professionals, attorneys, and landlords…”  Particularly “instant access to customer/client balances in your Escrow, Trust and IOLTA bank accounts.”  Be sure to visit them at trakkerapps.com.
    • Note Uncle Sean’s comments above regarding Integris Legal practice division and the growing fintech presence solving for specialty banking needs of law firms…  🤔😊

• WaFd, Inc. (Nasdaq: WAFD), parent company of Washington Federal Bank (FDIC 28088; total assets $28B), announced a significant shift in their business model by exiting the single-family mortgage business . “After over 100 years of making home loans, we are exiting the single-family mortgage lending market…”  

• eToro (retail trading platform and Robinhood competitor), as reported by the Financial Time, has allegedly submitted confidential filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO) targeting a valuation of $5B.

• 😯 Tough week in the enforcement arena – literally a “regulatory alphabet soup” of penalties…:
  • The CFPB announced they are suing Capital One for allegedly “cheating millions of consumers out of more than $2 billion in interest.”
  • The OCC announced enforcement actions and civil money penalty against three former senior executives of Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.  The fines to the three individuals are substantial at $10M, $7M, and $1.5M.  Oof!!! 🤐
  • The DOJ announced that American Express has agreed to pay $108.7M to the DOJ to settle allegations of deceptive marketing related to credit card and wire transfer products; and by entering “dummy” EINs in the credit card accounts of its affiliate bank.
  • The SEC announced that Robinhood has agreed to pay $45M in civil penalties to settle SEC charges of violating more than 10 securities law provisions.
  • Block to pay fines of $210M - $255M to federal and state regulators related to deficiencies in its oversight of Cash App and to compensate users who became victims of fraud.  Specifically:
    • The CSBS issued an $80M penalty for BSA/AML violations related to Cash App P2P platform.
    • The CFPB ordered Block to refund customers $75M-$120M and pay a $55M fine to the bureau's victims' relief fund. The CFPB claimed that Block had weak security protocols that put Cash App users at risk.

• Some personnel moves:
  • NCR Atleos appoints Andy Wamser as its new Chief Financial Officer.
  • FIntegrate Technology welcomes Linda Lockhart Nello as Customer Success Manager.
  • Synctera hires Matias Pino as its first CFO.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Brex (corporate card and spend management platform) picks up a two year. $235M revolving credit facility to accelerate card product growth.
  • Arva AI (AI-powered business verification / KYB solutions for banks and fintechs) raised $3M in seed funding.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• ❄️🥶 Holy Moly – get ready for round 2 as another strong arctic blast is on the way with the coldest low temps of the winter so far and dangerous windchill for much of the nation.  Who’s ready for summer??? 🌞
• It’s set… 🏈  The College Football Playoff National Championship  game is scheduled for this Monday, Jan 20th, featuring Ohio State vs. Notre Dame.
• The FDA has banned the use of Red Dye #3….  Hmmm…  Growing up in the 70’s and 80’s, I’m pretty sure I have ingested about 5 billion ounces of it… 🤷‍♂️
• Alrighty then – let’s close this out with some Dad / Bad Jokes!!!
  • How did the Pharaohs pay for their funerals…???  Cryptocurrency… 🤓😜
  • In a packed elevator, everyone is silent.  My stomach: I will now demonstrate the mating call of a whale. 😅
  • 3,025 years from now, life will either be really good or really bad…  It’s 5050… 🙄 (classic dad joke groans all around on that one)
  • If I had a dollar for every time algebra has helped me in real life, I’d have X dollars…. 😎
  • And last but not least - Is it just me or does the entire month of January feel like one really long string of Monday’s…??? 😬🤠

 
 
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe (and warm)!!!
 
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.