Uncle Sean's Update - 2/14/25

​Happy Friday & Happy Valentine’s Day 💝💘!!!
 
Don’t forget to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update delivered straight to your inbox every week – all the cool kids are doing it!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 2/14/25:
 

• Bankers Helping Bankers is at it again!!!  This week the BHB Fund announced a strategic investment in equipifi, an innovative bank technology vendor equipping banks and credit unions with BNPL solutions in their existing digital platform.  If you have been following the Uncle Sean Update, you know they have been on a roll – check them out at equipifi.com (I love the integration page). 🤙

 

• Congratulations to Northpointe Bancshares, Inc. (FR 2737814; consolidated total assets $5.4B) for their successful IPO today (NYSE: NPB)! 🙌🎉

 

• 🤷‍♂️ Well, January CPI data came in a little bit on the warm side at 3.0% YoY (expectation was 2.9%; last month actual was 2.9%) and 0.5% for the month (expectation was 0.3%; last month actual was 0.4%), Core CPI also came in a little high at 3.3% (expectation was 3.1%; last month actual was 3.2%).  CNBC has a pretty good summary.
  • Looking ahead, the PCE price index (the Fed’s preferred gauge of inflation) next release is Feb 28, 2025.  The FOMC meets again on March 18 - 19.

 

• 👀 A couple of BNPL announcements with some industry heavyweights (but in fundamentally different ways):
  • FIS partners with Affirm to offer BNPL.  FIS debit processing bank clients will be able to integrate Affirm’s pay-over-time solution directly into their existing debit card program via digital banking and mobile app platforms.
  • Klarna announced an agreement with J.P. Morgan Payments making Klarna’s BNPL payment option available to businesses that use JPMorgan Payments for payment processing.

 

• Vantage Bank Texas (FDIC 3405; total assets $4.6B) selects Finzly to “modernize and  consolidate its payment processing infrastructure using Finzly's end-to-end payment hub” enhancing its capabilities in instant payments, Fedwire, and FX.
  • Uncle Sean is keeping an eye on Vantage Bank as they continue to build out their infrastructure for embedded finance solutions… Love it!!! 😊

 

• nCino (Nasdaq: NCNO) announced the acquisition of Sandbox Banking, a digital transformation leader serving the financial services industry, for $52.5M in cash with an additional $10M performance incentive.

 

• 👉 SRA Watchtower announced the acquisition of Lumio Insight, a cloud-based data management and analytics provider, further enhancing the Watchtower risk management platform for banks and credit unions – particularly community FI’s.  Very nice!!!! 🚀
  • “Lumio Insight’s cloud-based platform automates the ingestion of critical data from more than two dozen core, general ledger, BSA, and other financial and risk systems into a single data warehouse for improved access and deeper business intelligence.”

 

• Another payments flex 💪 - Zelle® announced they shattered records for 2024 with consumers and small businesses sending over $1 Trillion (yes, Trillion with a T) in payments, an increase of 27% over 2023; and “the most money ever sent by a person-to-person payments service in a single year.”  WOWZA!!!! 💰💰💰
  • Transaction volume totaled 3.6 billion, a 25% increase from the prior year; and the network also reached 151 million enrolled users. 😲

 

• OMB Bank (FDCI 8252; total assets $1.8B) partners with Cable to strengthen compliance and risk management for its direct customers via Cable’s Risk Assessment and Automated Compliance Testing; and later extending to the banks fintech programs through OMB’s embedded finance division, OMBX.

 

• Canopy Servicing (commercial loan servicing) and Moov (modern payment processing infrastructure) have joined forces to launch Canopy Repay, “an integrated solution streamlining loan repayment operations for banks, non-bank lenders, and credit unions.”  Canopy Repay will be available to Canopy's client base of commercial lenders in June.

 

• Peoples National Bank, N.A. (FDIC 3809; total assets $1.9B) partners with Narmi for business and consumer digital account opening solutions.

 

• 😊 This is pretty cool…  Fruitful (membership based financial wellness, advisory, and banking app) announced the launch of Fruitful Cash Account and Fruitful Card currently sporting a 5.00% APY deposit account with the flexibility of a traditional checking account (with paid membership) and up to 2% cash back (with qualifying direct deposit) rewards on the Fruitful Card purchases. 💥
  • The model works well with the two products paired together – The Card is actually a secured charge card CC, that works like a cash back debit card, secured by a high-yield deposit account.  “Every purchase made with the Fruitful Card is reflected in the member’s available balance. Funds are set aside in the Cash account to cover each transaction, and the total balance can be paid off automatically in full each month, with no interest charges and carry-over balances.” 

 

• Azura Credit Union (charter 61823; total assets $830M) selects Jack Henry Symitar open platform to power the CU’s technology infrastructure.
  • Warning - Shameless plug time!!!!  Want to know who the incumbent core vendor was here???  Contact our own Bobby Button – yep, at FedFis we have bank AND credit union vendor data for all US institutions. 😊

 

• Merck Employees Federal Credit Union (charter 1454; total assets $1.9B) partners with Carefull to protect the CU members from elder fraud, scams, and money mistakes. 👍

 

• The Union Bank Company (FDIC 12969; total assets $1.2B) selects Candescent's Digital Banking platform for consumer and business customers.  Nice win considering the incumbent legacy vendor had a strategic relationship (i.e. same vendor for core, online, and mobile) – it’s tough to crack that model from an outside vendor perspective!!!

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Crowded (embedded finance for nonprofit’s) raised $7.5M in Series A funding round.
  • Sardine (AI risk platform for fraud, compliance, and credit underwriting) raised $70M in Series C round.
  • Zeta (bank tech provider) picks up $50M in capital at a $2B valuation in what looks to be a Series D round.
  • Era (AI-powered financial intelligence platform for personal wealth management) raised $6.2M seed funding.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • Kasasa announced the return of Dave Prost as the organization's new Chief Sales Officer.
  • DailyPay continues to expand their executive leadership team by naming Deepa Subramanian as Chief Financial Officer while Ken Brause moves from CFO to Chief Administrative Officer.
    • Keeping in mind that DailyPay recently named Ryan Mang as Chief Commercial Officer and Nelson Chai as Executive Chair.
  • Zest AI appoints Esther Kahng as Head of Public Policy and Chief of Staff.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Apptronik (developer of humanoid robots) recently announced a $350M Series A funding round – HOLY SMOKES that’s a huge Series A!!!  But take one look at Apollo, their commercially available humanoid robot, and it makes sense.  That’s pretty cool! 🤖  I hope they become affordable because I want one!!!!
• Aunt Patty and I had the pleasure of spending last Saturday exploring Martin Creek Lake State Park here in East Texas - 100% recommend it!  Miles of beautiful walking trails through the piney woods, amazing views of Martin Creek Lake, and super friendly staff.  What a great way to spend a Saturday!!!  Side note – can we bring back those 80 degree temps from last week, please?!?!?!
• Oh yeah - Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes to kick off the weekend:
  • If you make a typo on a headstone, it’s a grave mistake… 🪦😉
  • When that package shows up on your porch and you don’t remember ordering anything – that’s Amazonesia. 🤔
    • Although Aunt Patty says discovering unexpected packages on your porch is like Christmas all year long!  In my experience, excessive alcohol intake sometimes produces the same result…  PSA - Don’t drink and Amazon!  🙃🍷
  • I told my doctor I have a problem with my left ear…  Dr - “Are you sure?”  Me – “Yeah, I’m definite…” 😅
  • Speaking of doctors…  I finally saw my doctor today and showed him the rash on my butt.  For some reason he just ignored me and kept pushing his cart through Costco…!!!  🤷‍♂️😂🤣 

 
 
Have a Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️ and a GREAT weekend – but most of all, 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.