Uncle Sean's Update - 6/28/24

Happy Friday!!!
 
There won’t be an Uncle Sean Update next Friday, July 5th as we will be taking a break to celebrate an extended Independence Day holiday with family, friends, and loved ones!!! 💥🎆🧨  But don’t worry – I’ll be back in the saddle with the leading industry updates and bad Dad jokes on July 12th.  In the interim, here is the Uncle Sean Update for 6/28/24:
 

• Oof – Evolve Bank & Trust can’t seem to catch a break…  Still dealing with the Synapse bankruptcy mess with 10’s of millions of user funds missing and seemingly unable to reconcile FBO accounts to the middleware ledgers, plus the daunting Cease and Desist Order from the Federal Reserve citing “deficiencies in the bank's anti-money laundering, risk management, and consumer compliance programs” – and now we add a ransomware Cyber Attack to the list. 😩
  • Although Evolve did not disclose the name of the hackers (and is working with law enforcement agencies), this Banking Dive article states that Bloomberg has reported the Russian-linked hacker group LockBit 3.0 is responsible for the cybersecurity incident that leaked personal information to the dark web for Evolve’s retail bank customers and financial technology partners’ customers.
    • Per Evolve’s website detailing the Cybersecurity Incident, the data released on the dark web “varies by individual but may include your name, Social Security Number, date of birth, account information and/or other personal information.”  😲💩

 

• Thread Bank (fka Civis; FDIC 9499) becomes the latest sponsor bank to receive a public consent order.  The bank has both direct partnerships with FinTech companies and through their known partnership with Unit (BaaS middleware/connector platform – hopefully everyone can see the consistent trend here with middleware platforms).  No doubt that the team at Thread Bank will get better and stronger as we all continue to learn together. ❤️  But the consent order raised two interesting points from my perspective:
  • I am not 100% certain on this, but I think this is the first time the FDIC has used the actual terminology “Banking-as-a-Service” as a standalone section (separate from the traditional AML and third-party risk verbiage) in the consent order (bottom of page 6 if you download the order)…
  • Also worth noting, Section 14.l (page 7) instructs the bank to “develop and maintain an exit plan” for its FinTech relationships (something that The BaaS Association has been preaching for many years).

 

• Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) partners with Rego Payment Architectures (REGO) to offer REGO’s white-label family wallet to CSI’s community financial institution customers.
  • “CSI’s partnership with REGO underscores our commitment to strengthening our banking customers’ roles as financial leaders and advisors in their communities,” says David Culbertson, CSI President and Chief Executive Officer. “While the REGO digital family wallet will enable our youth to earn, save and spend under parental supervision, it also offers new ways to educate them about money management and financial literacy.” 
    • Yessir – financial literacy for the win!!!  Love it!!! 😊

 

• 👀 The Independent Bankers Association of Texas (IBAT) has launched the IBAT Loan Marketplace powered by Community Capital Technology | CCT, a Bankers Helping Bankers Fund company.
  • “The first dedicated, online marketplace for IBAT’s network of Texas banks to buy, sell, participate and originate whole loans, participations and forward flow opportunities is available NOW.” 🚀

 

• Locality Bank selects Swaystack to personalize digital engagement for the bank’s customers to “bridge the divide between new account opening and digital banking.”

 

• The Federal Reserve introduces their ScamClassifier℠ model, a voluntary classification structure that supports consistent and detailed classification, reporting, analysis and identification of scams, attempted scams, and related trends.

 

• Charlie (banking fintech targeting 62+ age demographic) launches SpeedBump to protect older Americans from financial fraud.  Very nice! 👏

 

• Bank Midwest (FDIC 5170; Total Assets $1.3B) launched a new direct digital bank called OnePlace.Bank powered by Finastra and targeting the financial needs of the healthcare community.
  • I love the direct digital bank model, but I’m not overly surprised that Finastra is powering the direct digital bank since Bank Midwest is operating on Finastra – Phoenix as their core processor.  How do I know that????  Here comes my shameless plug…  Because here at FedFis, we track the vendor tech stack for all US banks and credit unions.  We also have ratings, scores, and full financials for banks, CU’s, holding companies, branch SOD data, M&A database, FinTech Analytics© database including all sponsor banks and fintech feature functions, and so much more!  Want more info – contact Bobby Button. 🤠

 

• Airwallex announced integration with QuickBooks allowing customers to sync their Airwallex transactions across supported currencies into their QuickBooks Online account.

 

• Evergreen Money announced the launch of Liquid Treasuries, a traditional checking account (sponsor bank is Coastal Community Bank) that is automatically swept to invest in US Treasuries (currently yielding 5.31%) via SIPC-insured brokerage account with Jiko Securities.  Cha-ching! 😊

 

• Frost Bank (FDIC 5510; Total Assets $50B) selects Finzly to provide instant payments capabilities to the bank’s business and consumer customers through FedNow and The Clearing House’s RTP.

 

• The M&A trend continues as:
  • Chime acquired Salt Labs.
  • Nubank acquired US based Hyperplane.
  • Funding Circle sells its US operations to iBusiness Funding for approximately $42M.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • MoneyLion hires Jon Kaplan as Chief Revenue Officer
  • Vantage appoints Todd Link as Chief Financial Officer

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Rainforest (embedded payment processing) raised $20M in Series A stating “it has grown its payment volume by 17x” in the past six months.  Wow!!! 💪
  • Payabli (payments infrastructure solution for software companies) raised $20M in Series A funding round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• If you find yourself in Longview, Texas – definitely check out Lovely Eatery (holy moly just look at those pics) for some traditional Mexican cuisine.  I had their chorizo breakfast tacos this morning and it was absolutely amazing!  The side of potatoes and onions was fantastic as well.  I can’t wait to go back!!!! 😋
• Waymo (Alphabet’s self-driving car unit) expanded its robotaxi service to everyone in San Francisco with plans to ramp up in Austin soon.
• 16 year old track superstar Quincy Wilson running sub 45 second 400M in the Olympic track trials absolutely blows my mind – he doesn’t even have his drivers license yet!!! 🤯 Looking forward to watching this young man for years to come.
• Here they are – the Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • Am I the only one who gets annoyed when I put my music on shuffle, but it doesn’t play the song I want…???  ALEXA – SKIP!!!! 🤠
  • Bologna is really just hotdog flavored pancakes…
  • Does anyone else have PTSD from trying to gently open a can of biscuits? 💥
  • Refusing to go to the gym should count as resistance training…

 
 
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.