Uncle Sean's Update - 4/5/24

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Don’t forget to wear proper eye protection if you are fortunate enough to be in the path of the total solar eclipse next week!!!☀️😎  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 4/5/24:
 

• The BLS released the March Jobs Report today with an impressive 303,000 jobs added (estimate was 200,000 for March) and unemployment at 3.8%.  CNBC has a good summary.
  • Warning – Uncle Sean geek moment here…. 🤓  Continued strong employment reports definitely support Chairman Powell’s stance of “higher for longer” and “patience” in evaluating inflation in reference to interest rate cuts and QT taper.  It will be interesting to see what the CPI report comes in at next week as the last two have been hotter than expected. 

 

• JPMorgan Chase launched Chase Media Solutions to enable retail brands to target Chase’s 80 million customers based on spending data…  Banking Dive has a good article clarifying that the bank is not sharing Chase customer data directly with retailers, but “is working alongside brands and merchants to develop targeted offers for customers” based on their spend data.
  • Not sure how I feel about this personally just yet, but it is interesting nonetheless. 

 

• 👀 Finzly launched a sidecar core solution for BaaS / embedded banking that is core agnostic named Account Galaxy™ and is currently working with Quaint Oak Bank in support of their fintech program.

 

• Engage fi flexes their muscles by announcing 12 new community bank engagements in the U.S.  Very nice!!!! 💪🚀

 

• CSI announced this week that they have appointed Ken Gayron as CFO.

 

• Stride Health (benefits platform for independent workers / contractors) launched Stride Contributions, a way for companies to contribute to independent contractors “portable benefits savings account, which the worker can then apply to health or other insurance coverage as well as financial benefits like emergency savings, time-off, sick leave, or long-term savings.”  Stride is currently piloting the program with DoorDash.

 

• Tally become the latest direct-to-consumer fintech to shift strategy from B2C to white-labeled B2B (er B2B2C) distribution with their white labeled credit card debt management software now available to bank partners.

 

• Treasury Prime announced a partnership with Narmi to simplify and accelerate the adoption of FedNow for Treasury Prime’s bank customers.

 

• Synovus Bank (FDIC Cert 873; Total Assets $60B) partnered with Echo Health Inc. and DPX Payments LLC to launch Accelerate Pay for business payments expanding their treasury and payment solutions within the Accelerate suite.

 

• Klarna (BNPL) has clearly set its sights on the U.S. credit card market and has launched Wikipink, a site that offers transparent “data on its services, including repayment rates, late fee rates, and consumer age demographics, highlighting its commitment to fair and sustainable credit solutions.” 

 

• And more BNPL…  SunWest Credit Union (Charter 65082; Total Assets $209M) partnered with equipifi and added Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) to its suite of online products.

 

• Modern Treasury has been on a roll lately.  Last week they launched Professional Services; and this week they announced the launch of their Foreign Exchange (FX) platform to help customers partner directly with their bank and effortlessly manage FX rates for their cross border payments.

 

• Zilch selects Checkout.com as its primary global acquiring partner.

 

• Visa announced the launch of Subscription Manager allowing financial institutions to provide Visa cardholders with a simple, convenient way to track their subscriptions by streamlining “key aspects of recurring payments in one place, allowing cardholders to see where their card details are stored, view which recurring payments are attributed to their card, and stop recurring payments.”

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Brim Financial (Credit-Card-as-a-Service) raised $85M in Series C funding round.
  • Benjamin (rewards app with debit card and secured credit card coming soon) raised $5.5M Seed Round.
  • Aidium (mortgage CRM software platform) raised $19M in Series A funding.
  • Hello Alice (small business lending) announced the close of a Series C funding round.  The amount of the round was not disclosed, but the company stated that the valuation was now $130M.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• When did “paper towel math” and “toilet paper math” become a thing???  Sometimes 1 equals 1, but then again 2 can equal 4, and 4 can sometimes equal 12…  🤷‍♂️
• True story…  I tried to buy new underwear last weekend…  Full self-deprecating disclosure – Is it just me, or does everyone get anxiety when attempting to buy underwear (the ones I really liked have been discontinued)….??? 😩😬  What if they are not the correct size?  What if they feel weird?  What if the inseam is too long or too short?  It’s not like you can try them on and put them back on the rack if you don’t like them (eww - gross).  The struggle is real!!!  After about an hour of searching and debating with myself over the pros and cons of various styles of said underwear, I ultimately left the store without buying any at all (if you listen closely, you can hear Aunt Patty in the background saying, “just buy a pair already!”🤣) ….  Ugh…  Overthink much???  Nah, not me (sarcasm)…  LOL!!! 😆🤪
• Time to close this week out with some Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • I’m still a kid at heart, but definitely a senior citizen when it comes to the knees and back! 😲
  • Not to brag too much, but I was alive when you could SLAM the phone down to hang up on someone.  It was spectacular!!! 😂
  • What did the T-Rex say after working out?  Dino sore… 🙄  What kind of shoes do frogs wear?  Open toad… 🐸
  • Ah yes – this one is an oldie but a goodie..  A one L lama is a Tibetan priest.  A two L llama is a South American pack animal.  But a three L llama is one heck of a big fire in Boston!!!  I laughed a little too hard at that one… 🚒

 
 
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.