Uncle Sean's Update - 3/21/25

Happy Friday!!!
 
WOW – what a week to come back from vacation!  We celebrated the first day of spring 🌷, Saint Patrick’s Day 🍀, March Madness 🏀 – and the Update this week is PACKED!!!  So let’s get to it - here is the Uncle Sean Update for 3/21/25:
 

• It’s Fed Week!!!  🤔 Thoughts on a new drinking game – everyone take a shot each time you hear the words “uncertainty and/or tariff” during the FOMC press conference 🤠…  Feel free to scroll past this part as the punchline is no change in rates.
  • All kidding aside, the FOMC decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 4.25% - 4.50% as forecast uncertainty rules the day; and will slightly reduce the pace of its balance sheet reduction (QT) beginning April 1 from $60B to $40B by reducing its holdings of Treasury securities by $5B (was $25B per month) and maintain the runoff of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities at $35B per month. More info below if you like to get your inner Fed-Freak on like me 😊:
    • Here is the Summary of Economic Projections (dot plot for us more “seasoned” folks – LOL).  Keep in mind that this is not policy, just median estimates based on today’s information.  Key points – still shows a median forecast of 2 rate cuts for 2025, slight uptick in inflation estimates and unemployment by YE, and downward revision of YE GDP from 2.1 to 1.7.
    • And here is Charman Powell’s Press Conference Transcript (26 pages); and here is the video (49:30).
      • Key points here - “uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased” but the labor market remains solid, the hard data does not reflect the soft data (morale and survey data) - yet, and that tariff inflation is likely transitory (there’s the T-word 😬).
      • Also note that the FOMC has been winding down its holdings since June 2022 (known as quantitative tightening, or QT) by allowing a combined amount of Treasuries and mortgage bonds to run off without being reinvested. It last lowered its QT in June 2024 to $60B from $95B.  Since 2022, the central bank has reduced its balance sheet by about $2T (source: https://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/bst_recenttrends.htm).

 
ICYMI 👀 – here are a few of the bigger headlines from last week while I was away:
 

• 👉 Shoutout to Smiley for their newest win as BankTennessee (FDIC 29177; total assets $614M) selects Smiley Technologies as its core banking provider.  Nice!!! 😊

 

• 🤠 High five to our friends over at Legend Bank (FDIC 3108; total assets $1.1B) as they announce their partnership with Fufild, an app-based employer sponsored rewards and retention platform for their employees, to provide embedded payment orchestration and ledgering capabilities for Fufild. 🚀

 

• Catalyst (payment solutions for Credit Unions) partners with Neural Payments to enhance P2P enabling in-app payments from any member to virtually any person or business “by seamlessly working across a host of payment rails while enabling users to send funds to many leading payment apps and digital accounts.”  💥

 

• Green Dot (NYSE: GDOT; FDIC 22653; total assets $4.6B) announced that George Gresham ceased serving as CEO and President of Green Dot and Green Dot Bank and as a member of Green Dot’s Board of Directors, effective as of March 7, 2025.  Additionally, Green Dot has retained Citi to initiate a process “to explore potential strategic alternatives” for the company going forward.  Banking Dive has a good summary article.

 
And now back to this week’s headlines:
 

• Long awaited and much anticipated - Klarna (BNPL) finally files for IPO (NYSE: KLAR). Here is the actual F-1 SEC filing with full financial statements.
  • And the Klarna PR machine goes on a roll with new partnership announcements:
    • Klarna announced they will now be the exclusive provider of BNPL loans for Walmart under Walmart’s OnePay fintech program (fka One).  WOW – that;s a big win!!!
    • Klarna also announced a BNPL partnership with DoorDash – although I have to admit that I’m not sure how much I support the idea of installment payments for online food ordering and delivery… 🤷‍♂️  But hey – a win is a win!

 

• Some interesting M&A headlines lately:
  • We have our first fintech acquisition of a bank in several years!  SmartBiz acquires CenTrust Bank, N.A. (FDIC 58158; total assets $148M) and receives regulatory approval to become a bank and bank holding company.  Banking Dive has a good summary.
  • A foreign bank (UK) acquisition of a bank…  OakNorth (chartered UK bank) to acquire Community Unity Bank (FDIC 59305; total assets $64M).  Interesting note that Community Unity Bank is still in De Novo status as it was launched in June 2023.
  • And a CU acquisition of a bank -  NuMark Credit Union (charter 61447; total assets $851M) to acquire The Lemont Bank (FDIC 3693; total assets $52M).
  • But wait – there’s more!!  Another CU acquisition of a bank - Legacy Community Federal Credit Union (charter 24421; total assets $643M) to acquire First Community Bank of Cullman (FDIC 30166; total assets $104M)
    • If you are keeping score…  This is only the 3rd announced CU acquisition of a bank thus far for 2025, but the 2nd so far in March.  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019.  Source: FedFis Bank M&A data.

 

• Fort Community Credit Union (charter 67184; total assets $384M) selects Lumin Digital as its new cloud-native digital banking provider.

 

• Capital Credit Union (charter 61637; total assets $815M) upgrades its core banking system to Jack Henry Symitar.

 

• Magnolia Bank (FDIC 8120; total assets $480M) partners with Narmi to offer digital account opening for consumers and businesses.

 

• Rosedale Federal Savings and Loan Association (FDIC 29613; total assets $1.3B) partners with CorServ to implement a modern credit card issuing program for their business and consumers – upgrading from their existing third-party Agent Bank issuing program.

 

• 🚀 LoanPro continues to expand by partnering with NovoPayment (next gen financial infrastructure provider) to give FI’s and fintech companies across Latin America access to an integrated, end-to-end infrastructure that can support virtually any class of credit and lending product by integrating NovoPayment's API-based issuing processing with LoanPro's credit ledger and solutions for origination, servicing, and collections.
  • Rhett Roberts, Co-founder and CEO of LoanPro, stated “By bringing LoanPro's lending technology into NovoPayment's ecosystem in Latin America, we're giving financial institutions and fintechs the tools they need to offer credit with confidence and compliance at the core."

 

• 👍 AffiniPay (embedded finance in a legal practice management software platform) announced the early access launch of launch of MyCase Smart Spend integrated with the LawPay Visa Business Credit Card (issued by Emprise Bank and [powered by Marqeta).

 

• Meanwhile, Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113; total assets $867M) bulks up with strategic hires in its lending team to drive growth and enhance its financing solutions.

 

• Mercury adds Coastal Community Bank (FDIC 34403; total assets $4.1B) as a new partner bank as Evolve Bank & Trust continues to lose marquee fintech clients (Evolve lost Dave to Coastal earlier this month).

 

• 👀 Nymbus continues to do some interesting things in the Direct Digital Bank space (particularly with CU’s)….  Check out Pillur (https://pillur.org/) which is Michigan State University FCU (MSUFCU; charter 23279; total assets $8B) new direct digital bank brand targeting digital banking for SMB’s.
  • Note that MSUFCU already has 2 other Direct Digital Bank Brands:
    • Collegiate - https://collegiatecu.org/
    • AlumniFi - https://alumnifi.org/

 

• Luminate Bank (FDIC 16635; total assets $336M) selects MANTL for online and in-branch account opening to enhance its deposit onboarding experience for businesses and consumers.

 

• Verizon (NYSE: VZ) jumps back into the fintech world by announcing a partnership with OpenBank (the direct digital bank division of Santander Bank,N.A. - FDIC 29950; total assets $103B) to launch digital high-yield savings accounts for Verizon’s mobile and 5G Home customers.
  • Memory lane moment…  Remember Verizon Family Money a few years ago – the Prepaid GPR issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank???

 

• Wyndham Hotels and Resorts launched the Windham Rewards Debit Card powered by Galileo and issued by Sunrise Banks N.A.  This “first of its kind offering from a major hospitality brand in the U.S.” is designed for younger travelers as well as those who prefer a debt-free lifestyle. 
  • “The Wyndham Rewards Debit Card makes it easy to earn Wyndham Rewards points on day-to-day transactions, from gas and groceries, to dining, retail and more. Points can be redeemed for a wide-range of rewards—including free nights at more than 60,000 hotels, vacation club resorts and vacation rentals globally—while other cardholder perks include complimentary Wyndham Rewards Gold level membership, hotel booking discounts, a rich annual point bonus and more.”
    • More info on Galileo co-branded debit rewards programs can be found here at Galileo blog.

 

• Notable FinTech funding:
  • Zolve (neo-immigrant bank) raised $251M in Capital including a $51M Series B round plus $200M in debt.
  • Synctera (BaaS platform) raised $15M Series A extension with hopes to get “to breakeven” by early 2026.  Total funding to-date since its inception on 2020 is $94M.
  • Tomo Mortgage (AI-powered digital mortgage lender) raised $20M in Series B round.
  • Worth (onboarding and underwriting for SMBs applying for credit-based products, loans, or financing) raised a whopping $20M Seed round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• Vacation week visiting our kids was a blast!  So much so that I’m ready to take another week off right now – LOL!!!  We spent several days down in the peaceful Spicewood / Marble Falls area of the Texas Hill Country visiting Marshall and Nicole (and their dogs Wyatt and Lola); and Miss Claire came up from San Marcos to spend several days with us.  The weather the entire time was nothing short of spectacular!  It was a very relaxing trip with lots of laughs while we fed the deer and enjoyed good food.  We cooked smoked salmon, grilled up some venison burgers, had some oven baked chicken and cheesy broccoli, and even had boiled Cajun shrimp and crawfish from the good folks at the Marble Falls HEB grocery store (check out HEB’s debit card and mobile banking app).  And by the way – Aunt Patty and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary that Wednesday! 🎉🍾  The last leg of our trip found us back up in far east Texas rambling around the Caddo Lake area (absolutely beautiful).  We had lunch at Shady Glade Café in Uncertain, TX (yep – actual name of the town) where Aunt Patty had the chicken fried steak and I had the fried catfish – both of which were amazing!  We spent the rest of that Friday exploring and hiking the trails of Caddo Lake State Park and Caddo Lake National Wildlife Refuge (which used to be an Army ammunition plant).  Wrapping up the weekend we were able to spend some down time with Parker and Christian and finished up Sunday with pan seared beef pinwheels – yeah, we like to eat!!! 😊 One thing is for sure – fellowship, food, and belly laughs with your adult children is one of the greatest gifts in this world! ♥️
• I have no idea why this popped in my head, but does anyone else remember those crochet toilet paper roll covers from the 70’s and early 80’s that you would find in the bathroom at your Grandma’s house – especially the ones with the little doll head on top???  I always found those to be just a little bit on the creepy side! 😬🤣
• Alright!!!! Let’s get to some Dad / Bad Jokes to close this week out:
  • I don’t have any bad habits…  I’m actually quite good at all of them! 😂🤣
  • To my high school guidance counselor that said I would never amount to anything because of my consistent procrastination….  Just you wait!!! 🤠
  • I recently went on two diets because there wasn’t enough food on just the one! 😋🙃
  • And one of my favorite Saint Paddy’s day jokes…  Leprechauns are just Santa’s elves that got kicked out of the north pole for drinking on the job! 🍀🍺

 
 
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.