Uncle Sean's Update - 4/4/25

Happy Friday!!!
 
It’s APRIL – Happy Community Banking Month and Happy National Financial Literacy Month (some good resources in both of those links courtesy of ICBA and OCC)!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/4/25:
 

• Oof….  It was a rough week in the equity markets…  After a quick peek at my retirement portfolio and subsequently “crocodile crying some 401K tariff tears” LOL, I decided to look for some good news / happy thoughts…
  • First, I’m thankful I don’t have Chairman Jerome Powell’s job!  LOL!!!!
  • Second, of course nobody asked me 😊, but I suspect that trade negotiations will be forthcoming – limiting the duration and total effect of tariffs (fingers crossed anyway).
  • Third, this Goldman Sachs research report paints a clearer picture of the weighted average effect of tariffs.
  • Fourth, the 10yr Treasury dropped below 4% intraday today while the 2yr/10yr spread (yield curve) remained fairly consistent.
  • 👀 And last, but certainly not least – I absolutely loved this article by Chris Nichols at SouthState Bank titled The Impact of Reciprocal Tariffs on Community Banking as he focuses on opportunities for community banks related to increased tariffs – nicely done!!! 👏💪

 

• 👉 Congrats to Smiley as Arlo Bank (FDIC 29143; total assets $119M) selects Smiley Technologies, Inc. as its core and digital banking provider!
  • What makes this win even more impressive is the legacy vendor had a strategic position with the bank (same vendor for Core, Online, and Mobile technology) – source: FedFis "Fintegration Ecosystem"  Very Nice!!!!💥

 

• Border Bank (FDIC 20776; total assets $977M) has selected Jack Henry for core processing and Banno for digital (includes Banno Digital Platform™, Banno Business™, and JHA Treasury Management™).
  • This is ANOTHER bank vendor change where the legacy vendor had a strategic position with the bank…  I’ve only seen a few of these EVER, so to see two in one week is certainly unprecedented!!!!
    • Here comes the plug!!!! 😊 Be sure to reach out to our own Bobby Button for full details of our FedFis "Fintegration Ecosystem" detailing the vendor tech stack for all US Banks and Credit Unions.

 

• 👀 Rocket Companies announced an agreement to acquire Mr. Cooper in a $9.4B deal (wowza! 😲💰).  This announcement comes just about a month after acquiring Redfin in an all-stock transaction valued at $1.75B.
  • Combined, Rocket and Mr. Cooper will service a $2.1 trillion loan book across some 10 million clients.
  • “The combined company will attain a balanced business model and maintain stability in all market environments…” 
    • Uncle Sean’s take - Essentially implying a hedged model that in times of lower interest rates, mortgage originations and refinance activity (Rocket model) remain high; whereas in time of higher interest rates, servicing activity remains solid as fewer customers buy homes or refinance existing mortgages.
      • Certainly appears to be a nice vertical integration strategy (from potential buyers on Redfin, to originations / refi on Rocket, to servicing via Mr. Cooper). 🚀

 

• Rumor Mill (but sure sounds legit) – The DOJ has reportedly told financial regulators that it did not have sufficient cause to block the merger between Capital One and Discover, paving the way towards regulatory (Federal Reserve and OCC) approval.
  • “The Justice Department told the regulators of its decision in a confidential memo, the report said, citing unnamed sources.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean)

 

• Circle (USDC stablecoin issuer) has filed for an IPO with NYSE symbol “CRCL” signifying a broader moment for the crypto industry as a whole.  If you want to dig deeper, here is their S-1 Registration Statement with the SEC.
  • Per this CNBC article, USDC has roughly $60 billion in circulation and makes up about 26% of the total market cap for stablecoins, behind Tether’s 67% dominance. Its market cap has grown 36% this year, however, compared with Tether’s 5% growth.

 

• DCI and Paymentus announce a new partnership offering community banks “easy to use, flexible and secure bill payment options they can offer their customers.” 🤙
  • Next week kicks off the DCI Bankers Conference.  Tanner and Matthew will be there and I am looking forward to some fun LinkedIn pics!

 

• Definitely sending a shoutout and virtual fist bump 👊 to Braid as they achieved SOC 2 Type 2 certification – Great work!!!! 🎉

 

• And here we go!!!  Citizens (FDIC 57957; total assets $217B) launched their new Citizens Open Banking API, enabling clients can view their bank account balances, transactions and more within their preferred external systems.

 

• And more open banking…  Yavrio (open banking fintech with business ERP system integration) announced they are connected to corporate accounts at “Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, Citi Bank, Bank of America and U.S Bank, the five largest banks in the US, as it expands internationally.”
  • Yavrio has also introduced “embedded ACH, RTP, FedNow and Wire payments across 9,600+ banks for customers in the U.S., enabling businesses to securely send funds from their payment journal to vendors via their bank account, streamlining the process for enhanced efficiency and security.”
    • The new world of commercial treasury management looks pretty cool! 😎

 

• Highnote partners with Feedzai – “By leveraging Feedzai’s AI-native, real-time fraud prevention and merchant monitoring platform, Highnote was able to swiftly bring its acquiring solution to market while meeting stringent regulatory requirements.”

 

• Ingo Payments selects Marqeta as its issuer processing partner.

 

• The Farmers and Merchants Bank (FDIC 16216; total assets $1.8B) selects Candescent’s Digital Banking platform for both retail and business banking.

 

• Stride Bank (FDIC 4091; total assets $3.9B) announced a new bank sponsorship program with Affirm to “become a new card issuing partner” for the Affirm CardTM debit card…
  • Worth noting that the legacy issuer of the Affirm Card is Evolve Bank & Trust which has had a rough time lately as it is still entwined in the Synapse middleware bankruptcy.  Evolve Bank & Trust also recently lost key fintech customers Mercury and Dave; and this week settled a data breach lawsuit for almost $12M.

 

• The Chime PR machine has been on a roll lately – this week Chime announced the launch of Chime Workplace, a next-generation financial wellness suite of services for employers and employees.

 

• Plaid completed a $575M secondary sale at a $6.1 billion valuation; and per the article, they “will not go public in 2025” but it is a milestone the company continues “to track towards.”
  • The valuation is less than half what Plaid obtained in 2021 from venture capitalists (but hey – that was 2021 when VC money was falling from the sky), and just 15% more than Visa's buyout offer in early 2020.

 

• ICYMI – Aspiration (climate-friendly fintech financial app) is changing their name to GreenFi after the fintech arm of Aspiration Partners was acquired last year by Mission Financial Partners.

 

• Some personnel movements:
  • BMG Money appoints Allyson Torsak as new Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Fiserv promotes Takis Georgakopoulos to COO.
  • DataVisor names Tony Kueh as the company's first COO.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Imprint (modern co-branded credit cards) raised $500M credit facility to increase lending capacity and accelerate growth.
  • Atomic (digital connectivity / account switching platform) raised an additional $10M in capital.  Banking Dive has a great interview with Atomic co-founder, Jordan Wright.  Huge congrats to the entire Atomic Team!!! 🚀
    • Oh – by the way, Atomic also redesigned their website - check it out at https://atomic.financial/. 😊

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏀 For the first time since 2008 — and only the second time ever — all No. 1 seeds have reached the men's Final Four.
• Recipe Time….  If you like onions (and vinegar), you’ll love this…  This is my Pickled Red Onion recipe (keep refrigerated):
  • 2 medium red onions (halved and sliced)
  • 2 cups white vinegar and 2 cups water
  • 1/3 cup sugar, 2 TBSP salt, and 1 (or 2) TBSP mixed peppercorn (you can also add a few garlic cloves if you like – it’s really hard to mess this up).
    • I think this can last up to 2 weeks in the fridge in a covered container, but it never makes it past a week at our house.  Goes great on salads, burgers, or just as a quick snack! And I LOVE the bright red color it turns after about 12 hours in the fridge.
• Straight to the Dad / Bad jokes so we can END THIS WEEK!!! 🤠
  • When funeral homes raise their prices, do they blame it on the cost of living? 🤷‍♂️
  • Ahhh, Confucius say – “Some people are wise; and some are otherwise…” 😅
  • Here lately, life has been a walk in the park…  “Jurassic Park” but a park nonetheless! 😲🤣🦖
  • Morpheus (The Matrix):  What if I told you…  wait - did you just take both pills??? 🙃🤪

 
 
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.