Uncle Sean's Update - 12/12/25

​Happy Friday!!!
 
We made it through another week 🎉!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 12/12/25 (subscribe here for free):
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  As was widely expected, the FOMC voted to lower the fed funds rate by 25 bps to 3.5% - 3.75%.  But a divided Fed is evident with three dissents (Stephen Miran dissented in favor of a larger 50-bps cut, while Jeffrey Schmid and Austan Goolsbee favored no cut); and the current SEP showed 6 participants had estimated no rate cut for the current meeting.  Downward pressure in employment data drove the decision; but a “wait and see” approach seems to be the forward guidance.
  • The Fed also announced an increase to its securities holdings through purchases of Treasury bills — and, if needed, other Treasury securities — with remaining maturities of three years or less to maintain an ample level of reserves.
  • For more fun reading 😊, here is Chairman Powell’s Press Conference transcript (26 pages), Press Conference video (51:57), and the Summary of Economic Projections (SEP) shows an increase in 2026 estimated GDP to 2.3% and a median estimate of only one rate cut next year).

 

• Fifth Third Bank (Nasdaq: FITB; FDIC 6672; total assets $212B) announced a multi-year partnership with Brex (corporate card platform) supporting $5.6B in annual commercial card payment volume via Brex’s AI-native and API-driven payments infrastructure, Brex Embedded. 💰  The Fifth Third Commercial Card powered by Brex will become the default commercial card solution for Fifth Third Bank’s Commercial Banking clients. 💥
  • Couple of points worth noting as this is a huge announcement for Brex 🚀:
    • Fifth Third (as an FI issuer, meaning they have their own credit card issuing platform) is one of the sponsor issuers for the Brex Mastercard Corporate Credit Card – so these companies have a history of working together.  It’s impressive that Brex is now going to be a supporting vendor / program manager for Fifth Third’s Commercial Card platform.
    • Recall where Fifth Third is also in the process of acquiring Comerica Bank which will bump them up to about $288B in total assets.

 

• 👉 Cross River Bank (FDIC 58410; total assets $8.1B) expands card solutions with the launch of its proprietary in-house card processing engine joining a select group of FI’s with complete ownership of the card tech stack - giving partners full control over issuing and processing.
  • “Our in-house processing is a full-stack integration, offering a seamless way to launch debit, credit, and prepaid card programs. It enables our partners to scale with one unified solution,” said Andrew Lambert, Head of Product at Cross River. “Our partners have the flexibility to design card experiences around their customers — with instant virtual card creation, spend controls that update in real-time, actionable intelligence, and full lifecycle management.”
    • Hey, ya’lll remember that line from Jonas in the movie 'Twister' regarding the new Dorothy – “Well let me enlighten you people, this baby has satellite comlink, we got on-board pulse doppler, we got nexrad real time, today, we’re gonna make history…”  Yeah, Cross River’s platform is kind of like that, but for cards, not tornadoes! 🤠🌪️

 

• SoFi Technologies (Nasdaq: SOFI; bank subsidiary is SoFi Bank; FDIC 26881; total assets $41B) launched the SoFi Smart Card for eligible SoFi Plus members (subscription based).  The all-in-one card features “the best of debit and credit card benefits” including 5% cash back rewards at grocery stores, up to 4.3% APY on savings, spending control with a dynamic credit limit (based on checking and savings account balances), P2P, and more.  That’s cool! 👏

 

• Mercury announced the general availability of Mercury Personal to US residents (targeting builders and founders bridging business and personal banking) after being in beta for over a year.

 

• Panacea Financial, the direct digital bank specializing in banking and lending services for doctors, dentists, and veterinarians (a division of Primis Bank (FDIC 57968; total assets $4B), partners with Stakk IQ™ Embedded Finance platform enabling Panacea to leverage Stakk’s “mobile image capture, PDF and scanner imaging capabilities, image authentication, OCR, and document/data orchestration capabilities, together with rule-based transaction orchestration, powering deposit acceptance.”

 

• HSA Bank (direct digital bank division of Webster Bank N.A.; FDIC 18221; total assets $83B) has acquired Secure Inc. (dba SecureSave), a leading provider of employer-sponsored emergency savings accounts (ESAs) – further expanding HSA Bank’s emphasis on health and wealth focused employee benefits. 
  • Worth noting that SecureSave savings accounts were previously sponsored by Stearns Bank, N.A. and Wells Fargo.

 

• Another BaaS Sponsor bank gets acquired…  This week it is Enova International, Inc. (NYSE: ENVA) to become a bank holding company with the acquisition of Grasshopper Bancorp, Inc. (FR 5215715; bank subsidiary is Grasshopper Bank N.A.; FDIC 59113; total assets $1.4B) in a cash and stock transaction valued at approximately $369M.

 

• Engage fi announced its acquisition of Intellectual Dimensions, a company that provides a business intelligence and data automation platform to assist in proactive deconversion and merger preparation allowing FI’s to transfer “clean core data between core systems with confidence” particularly on the CU side.
  • "Institutions need faster, more accurate conversions that reduce manual work and budget strain," Pasantes added. "Intellectual Dimensions' platform delivers these outcomes today across nearly every major core system. Engage fi clients have used the platform over the past 18 months and consistently report faster implementations, higher accuracy, and measurable efficiency gains."
    • Certainly looks to be a nice alignment with these two companies! 👍

 

• New Cumberland Federal Credit Union (charter 8110; total assets $227M) selects Mahalo Banking for phased digital transformation via Mahalo Banking’s Thoughtful Banking® platform – completion of the full digital banking conversion is planned for early 2026.

 

• Murphy USA partners with AtoB to launch the Murphy USA Mastercard Business Fuel Card open loop credit card issued by Celtic Bank.
  • So what???
    • Murphy USA (and QuickChek) have over 1,700 locations nationwide – nice footprint.
    • AtoB is also the program manager for the Uber Freight Card (among others) issued by Celtic Bank… But if you had the FedFis Fintech Analytics© database platform, you already knew that…  Reach out to Bobby Button for more info (see what I did there! 😊).

 

• 👀 ICYMI…  The OCC announced Conditional Approvals for Five National Trust Bank Charter Applications (yes, FIVE 😮).  Keep in mind that these are National Trust charters (NOT an insured depository institution); and all of which are involved in stablecoins.
  • Only two of which are actual De Novo institutions (First National Digital Currency Bank, NA and Ripple National Trust Bank), while the other three (Bitgo Bank & Trust, Fidelity Digital Assets, and Paxos Trust Company) are conversions from State Trust to National Trust.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Airwallex (global commercial account platform including spend management, cards, and payments) raised $330M in Series G round at an $8B valuation.
  • Esusu (credit builder platform for renters) raised $50M in Series C funding round valued at $1.2B.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• ‘Tis the Season…  For College Football Bowl Games 🏈!!! The annual Army vs. Navy game is this Saturday at 2pm CST on CBS.  The 2025 Heisman Trophy ceremony is also this Saturday on ABC at 6pm CST.  And here is the entire college football bowl game schedule all the way through the National Championship Game on Jan 19th 2026.  Ahhh – I love the Holiday Season!!! 🎄
• And here are the Dad / Bad jokes:
  • I heard they are hiring at the Comb factory – it’s part time… 🙄😄
  • I wonder if the person who came up with the phrase “One Hit Wonder” came up with any other phrases…??? 🤔😉
  • Why couldn’t the lifeguard save the hippie?  (in my best Big Lebowski voice) He was just too far out man! ✌️☮️
  • Dear Santa 🎅 – all I want for Christmas is a fat bank account and a skinny body!  And please don’t mix those up again like you did last year!!!! 🤠😅

 
 
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