Uncle Sean's Update - 3/31/23

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Whoa - where did the 1st quarter go???  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 3/31/23:

• The Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB) platform has been B-U-S-Y!!!!
  • First is a HUGE shoutout to Liberty Bank as the latest to join the BaaS Association as our community of innovative institutions continues to expand!
  • Second – the BHB Fund marks its first investment placement in FinGoal, an insights platform focused on personalization for digital banking to help banks better serve their customers through real-time insights and product / service recommendations.  Congrats to David Nohe and the entire FinGoal Team!

 

• First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (FDIC 11063; $109B Total Assets) to acquire substantially all loans and deposits of Silicon Valley Bridge Bank, N.A. at a discount of $16.5B and excludes about $90B in securities and other assets.
  • You can check out the very well done First Citizens Banchshares Investor Deck that basically doubles the size of First-Citizens, diversifies the client base, and details out some very nice downside protections including a five-year loan loss share coverage with the FDIC and an available line of credit from the FDIC for contingent liquidity needs if needed.

 

• The CFTC has sued Binance and owner Changpeng Zhao as well as Samuel Lim (Binance’s former Chief Compliance Officer) alleging willful evasion of U.S. law that violated the Commodity Exchange Act. 😲
  • Banking Dive has a good summary if you want to dig in a little more.

 

• CSI also hits this week with a pair of announcements:
  • CSI partners with Hawk AI to provide CSI customers with automated AI-driven solutions for fraud and AML.
  • CSI hires industry veteran Linda Fischer as Chief Operating Officer as well as John Blevin as SVP General Counsel.  Also announced was a slew of promotions including Kurt Guenther to CRO, Allison Maddock to CPO, and Tara Schultz to SVP Strategy. 

 

• Check out Seattle Bank with their own series of announcements this week:
  • Capitalizing on embedded finance on the lending side as they announced a partnership with LoanStar Technologies that allows merchants on the LoanStar network to offer point-of-sale consumer loans from Seattle Bank for high-value transactions.
  • Also on the lending side - announcing a partnership with JUDI.AI to offer Seattle Banks “small business borrowers a simplified loan application and approval process that now takes minutes instead of a week or more.”

 

• And one more set of double announcements as BM Technologies (NYSE: BMTX – fka BankMobile) makes headlines:
  • BMTX announced new Deposit Processing Services Agreement (DPSA) with First Carolina Bank as well as an updated DPSA for T-Mobil MONEY with Customers Bank.
  • BMTX hires industry veteran Raj Singh as Co-CEO.

 

• Uncle Sean likes this – North Dakota is the first state in the nation to approve legislation requiring cybersecurity education in K-12 classrooms.  Education is always good – especially related to our new digital world!!!!  😊

 

• Rocket (NYSE: RKT) announce the launch of Rocket Visa Signature Card credit card (via Rocket Money, powered by Deserve, and issued by Celtic Bank) targeting home buyers / homeowners with up to 5% rewards that can be used towards closing costs and down payments.

 

• Greenlight (teen and family focused banking app) announced the launch of Greenlight for Banks to allow banks and credit unions to offer Greenlight’s suite of banking and education products to their customers through a co-branded landing page and app.  “With Greenlight for Banks, financial institutions can seamlessly integrate family banking into their own ecosystems, allowing them to engage the next generation of customers, grow deposits, and provide more value to families.”
  • Worth noting, the article references existing customers WaFd Bank, Morgan Stanley, and Community Financial Credit Union – WOW!!!!

 

• The OCC announced the establishment of its Office of Financial Technology as an expansion of their existing Office of Innovation.  Prashant Bhardwaj will lead the office as Deputy Comptroller and Chief Financial Technology Officer, effective April 10, 2023.  The Office of Financial Technology “will enhance the OCC’s expertise on matters regarding digital assets, fintech partnerships, and other changing technologies and business models within and that affect OCC-supervised banks.”

 

• Just ICYMI (and I don’t know how as it felt like it was everywhere all week long - LOL), Apple has finally launched Apple Pay Later from closed Beta – albeit to a limited amount of randomly selected users via invite for now.
  • Apple Pay Later is a BNPL product built within the Apple Wallet allowing users to split purchases of $50 - $1,000 into four interest free installments over six weeks. 

 

• And more news from the mobile wallet arena – Early Warning Services LLC (EWS) has named their new multi-bank digital wallet Paze and will be aimed exclusively for online transactions.  Pilot is expected this summer with broad availability expected in late 2023 (and available to all banks).  Per the Paze website, “Over 150 million eligible credit and debit cards available at full launch” giving them wide customer coverage from the start.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • StellarFI (credit enhancing platform via bill payments) raised $15M in Series A funding round.
  • Spiral (Impact-as-a-Service™ - ESG assessment) raised $28M in Series A funding to help banks and fintech companies embed sustainability and social impact into their business.
  • Raisin (known as SaveBetter in the US – a deposit platform for high-yield savings products with a network of banks and credit unions) raised about $64.7M in Series E round ($60M euros) to accelerate growth in the U.S.
  • Playbook (PFM focused on tax-advantaged decisioning) raised $7M in Series A funding round.
  • Presta (digital lending platform) raised $3.3M in pre-seed funding.
  • Stratyfy (AI-driven lending solutions for FI’s) raised $10M in capital.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• The bracket busting NCAA Men’s Final Four is set for Saturday evening with the Championship game scheduled for Monday, Apr 3.
• Alright – we’re going to keep this short as I really want to sneak out this afternoon, grill some hamburgers, and maybe even have a few adult beverages (don’t tell my boss – LOL)….  So let’s get right to some quality Dad Jokes to kick off the weekend right!!!!
  • I just sold my two homing pigeons on Facebook Marketplace for the 25th time…. 😊
  • If laziness was an Olympic sport, I would come in 4th just so I wouldn’t have to walk up to the podium.  LOL!!!!
  • I asked the waiter, “what’s the duck like?”  He looked me straight in the eyes and said, “It’s kind of like a chicken, but it can swim.”  Yep, that’s a good one!!!!
  • Daylight Savings was really rough on me this year…  I literally lost sleep over it….
  • Hey Aunt Patty – I get it now…  When our parents used to say to us “enjoy them while they are young” – they were talking about our knees and hips, not our kids!  HAHAHAHAHA!!!! 😝

 
 
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.