Uncle Sean's Update - 1/27/23

​Happy Friday!!!
 
FinTech | Banking | Data, it’s what we do!  It has been a VERY busy week - so let’s get right to it.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 1/27/23:
 

• The BaaS Association announced the hiring of Bill Briggs as Chief Executive Officer.  Bill brings a wealth of knowledge and experience having recently served as the Acting Associate Administrator in the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) Office of Capital Access where he oversaw all aspects of the historic Paycheck Protection Program (PPP).
  • Briggs stated, “I look forward to working with bankers, financial technology providers, regulators, and lawmakers to outline our priorities as an industry association as we expand Banking as a Service nationwide."
    • ICYMI – check out this Banking with Interest interview with Bill Briggs hosted by Rob Blackwell as Bill discusses his vision for The BaaS Association.

 

• Bankers Helping Bankers announced PULSE® debit network as its exclusive debit partner for the BHB platform providing “debit expertise, insights and thought leadership to help community financial institutions improve their debit programs, strengthen operations, mitigate fraud risks and engage account holders.” 

 

• WHOA – talk about kicking off the new year with some momentum!!!  Congrats to MOCA Financial as they announced the successful launch of three community financial institutions plus three more launching in the next 45 days.  Nice work for the good folks over at MOCA!!!

 

• I love this – Augustana University has partnered with Pathward, N.A. (f/k/a MetaBank) and is launching a financial technology major undergraduate program.
  • For more info, check out the Augustana University Fintech Program by Pathward™.  Very cool!!!

 

• This is pretty big news - the Federal Reserve Board officially announced the denial of application by Custodia Bank, Inc. to become a member of the Federal Reserve System.  Something tells me we haven’t heard the last of this….

 

• The NCUA has been busy over the last few days:
  • Late last week, the NCUA conserved Valwood Park FCU (charter 21788; $28M Total Assets as of Sept call report) due to the all-inclusive “unsafe and unsound practices” doctrine.
    • Sure feels like there is more to this story as Valwood Park is profitable with no real delinquency issues and well capitalized with a Net Worth Ratio of 14.15% (Sep 22).  Maybe the Dec call report will shed more light once they report.
  • This week, the NCUA released Edinburg Teachers Credit Union (charter 66366; $96M Total Assets as of Sep) from conservatorship.  Edinburg Teachers was previously conserved back in Mar 2021.
    • Congrats are in order for hard work and diligence on behalf of the CU employees - being successfully released from conservatorship doesn’t happen very often.

 

• Axiom Bank, N.A. announced they have selected Cable's platform to automate financial crime compliance for Axiom’s fintech sponsor program.

 

• Grasshopper Bank announced a new partnership with MANTL to strengthen the banks online business account opening / deposit origination platform and build out a “fully-automated business online loan origination solution from the ground up.”

 

• Abrigo (compliance, credit risk, and lending platform for FI’s) continues their buying spree announcing the acquisition of DiCom Software, LLC automated credit risk management software.  This is Abrigo’s third acquisition in five months.

 

• The Wall Street Journal reported that the nation’s largest banks plan to launch a digital wallet for consumers and will be managed by Early Warning Services (owned by a consortium of seven banks: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, PNC, Truist and Capital One) to compete with third-party wallet operators such as PayPal and Apple.
  • Worth noting that Apple Pay processed more than $6T (yes, trillion with a T) in annual transaction volume last year – surpassing Mastercard.  😲

 

• Grupo Coppel, Mexico’s largest department store, announced the launch of Coppel Access offering immigrant friendly U.S. mobile banking services to those in the U.S. including FDIC insured accounts via Community Federal Savings Bank using an official Mexican or U.S. ID.

 

• Marqeta announced the promotion of Simon Khalaf to CEO.

 

• 😊 Sing it with me “Money, Money, Money - Money!!!” (credit: The O'Jays - For The Love of Money)!!!  Check out the flood of FinTech funding for the week:
  • Grazzy (employee instant tip payments platform) raised $4.25M Seed Round.  TechCrunch has a good write-up.
  • DailyPay (on-demand wage/EWA platform) raised $260M in capital consisting of an additional $160M capacity for their revolving credit facility plus a $100M term loan.
  • PayEm (business procure to pay platform including corporate cards) $220M in Capital consisting of equity and credit financing.
  • Vartana (sales closing and financing platform) raised $12M in Series A funding round.
  • Sandbar (AML software for fintechs) raised $4.8M Seed round.
  • Zurp (creator/influencer loyalty fintech card platform) raised $5M in pre-seed funding to continue building out their creator partnerships and expand the company’s offerings to include banking options, as well as different tiers of credit cards.
  • Tranch (B2B BNPL) raised $100M in capital in an undisclosed mix of equity seed round and debt.
  • Inscribe (fraud detection and credit analysis for FI’s and fintech companies) raised $35M in Series B funding round after experiencing 3x increase in ARR over last year.
  • Method (API-based infrastructure for consumer loan payments, balance transfers, bill pay, etc.) raised $16M in Series A round.
  • Foro (commercial lending startup) emerged from stealth with $8M in Series A funding to democratize access to capital for SMB’s.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• The NFL conference championship games are this Sunday with the winners to play in Super Bowl LVII on February 12 in Glendale, AZ! 
  • NFC: San Francisco 49ers at Philadelphia Eagles - 2 PM CST on Fox.
  • AFC: Cincinnati Bengals at Kansas City Chiefs - 5:30 PM CST on CBS.
    • I don’t mean to incite a riot (or in this case a “chicken-run” LMAO), but if you are planning on cooking chicken wings for Sunday, you should probably stock up NOW!!!!
• I tried this recipe out this week and it is a winner.  Super easy and definitely worth sharing – Grilled Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken (FYI you can double this recipe just by X2 all ingredients):
  • 1 ½ pounds of boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 1 cup low sodium soy sauce, 1 cup brown sugar packed, 1 cup pineapple juice, 4 cloves garlic either minced or chopped, 1 TBSP fresh minced ginger (this is your standard teriyaki marinade)
  • Mix the teriyaki marinade until the sugar dissolves.  Then put the chicken in a gallon baggie and pour the marinade over the chicken.  Press the air out of the bag and tightly seal as air-tight as possible.  Refrigerate overnight.
  • Remove chicken from the bag (do NOT discard marinade).  In a saucepan, bring marinade to a simmer for 5-10 minutes.  Grill chicken until done.  Place grilled chicken in a baking dish and pour remaining hot marinade over the top – serve immediately.
    • As a side note – I used the leftover chicken the next day as a lean protein salad topper and it was AMAZING!!!!
• Just for the record, Uncle Sean has no classified documents in the garage (LOL)…  But I can’t speak for Aunt Patty – Lord only knows what she has stashed away out there!!!  😝

 
 
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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.