Uncle Sean's Update - 7/24/26

Happy Friday!!!
 
Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 7/24/26 (subscribe here for free):
 

• A quick fist-bump 👊 to my friends at Acceleron for their SOC 2 certification per their LinkedIn July newsletter, The Exchange - International Payments Newsletter!!!
  • “For community banks and credit unions moving money across borders, that's one more reason to trust the rails: the same controls protecting your wire transactions now meet the industry's highest bar for security and confidentiality.” 
    • Be sure to reach out to them about how to keep more non-interest income for services you are already providing.  And tell them Uncle Sean sent you!!! 😊 (and no, this is not a paid advertisement - they are just genuinely good people trying to help community banks) 👍

 

• 👀 Another credit union acquisition of a bank…  Gesa Credit Union (Charter 68278; total assets $6.7B) to acquire Willamette Valley Bank (FDIC 57033; total assets $465M).  This is the 5th announced (whole-bank transaction) CU acquisition of a bank so far in 2026 (source: FedFis - FinTech | Banking | Data).
  • 👉 Some additional FedFis intel:
    • Willamette Valley Bank primary tech stack was all Fiserv - Premier, ROB, and Mobiliti for core, online, and mobile (at FedFis we call this a strategic vendor position – i.e. Fiserv strategic).  Gesa also acquired Security State Bank (FDIC 13232; total assets $598M) announced in May 2024 and completed in June 2025.  Interesting to note that Security State Bank was also Fiserv strategic (Premier, ROB, and Mobilit) so there is certainly some direct vendor integration experience here.
    • Reach out to Bobby Button at FedFis for more bank and credit union vendor data and integration detail.  Now that’s a nice plug!! 😊🤘

 

• Nebraska Bankers Association (NBA) endorses Stablecore as digital asset technology provider for the NBA's 150+ member banks, “enabling these institutions to offer stablecoin and digital asset capabilities that help them remain competitive and deliver additional value to current and new customers.” 👏

 

• We had another bank failure late last Friday (makes four for the year and the second in two weeks) as Small Business Bank (FDIC 25744; total assets $73M) was closed on July 17. The bank had a FedFis Rating© of 4.48 as of March 2026 placing them in the lowest possible percentile of all U.S. banks.  For more info, check out the FedFis Bank Failure Alert here - https://www.fedfis.com/bulletin/bank-failure-alert-small-business-bank.

 

• Samsung launched the Samsung Galaxy Card – a Visa credit card issued by Barclays Bank Delaware that is designed to be a wallet-first card with enhanced rewards within the Samsung Wallet ecosystem.
  • This Reuters report signals that Samsung could soon be broadening its financial services offerings:
    • "The relationship that we're building with Barclays is a strategic and long-term relationship," Lee said. "So while we don't have everything all lined up today, we do have intention to collaborate and explore all avenues of different products and different capabilities that we can actually make available ​as it makes sense ​to our customers," he ⁠added, signaling the company's ambition to go beyond cards.
      • I can’t help but wonder if Google will follow suit soon with a card offering within their wallet ecosystem… 🤷‍♂️

 

• Finwise Bancorp (Nasdaq: FINW; the BHC of FinWise Bank – FDIC 35323; total assets $890M) has acquired the technology platform and related assets of Tallied Technologies, Inc., the credit card issuing and processing platform that FinWise uses to power its co-branded credit card program – allows FinWise to own the entire card tech stack from application, through issuing, processing, and servicing.

 

• Chime (Nasdaq: CHYM) announced the launched Chime Invest launch of Chime Invest “bringing investing to the Chime app where members already get paid, spend, and save. Members can buy stocks and ETFs commission-free, or let an expert-managed portfolio do the work for them, with no account minimums.”

 

• MoneyLion announced the launch of MoneyLion One, a new membership program that bundles daily 1% cashback, fee-free investing and high-yield savings (coming late summer but advertising 3.64% in the PR), along with a suite of personalized financial and identity theft protection tools.
  • “Members who set up at least $500 in monthly direct deposits receive the full membership at no cost, making it more accessible than other memberships with similar benefits. Even without direct deposit, anyone can access all the benefits for just $9.99 per month.”
    • Nice!!! 💪

 

• Walmart’s OnePay announced the launch of OnePay Personal Loans through a partnership with Upgrade allowing OnePay customers to apply for a loan between $1,000 - $50,000 directly within the OnePay app.

 

• Another small business focused solution…  Intuit (Nasdaq: INTU) has introduced the Intuit Business Credit Card (World Elite Business Mastercard issued by WebBank) with a built-in spend management platform for growing teams (issue cards and manage controls / limits) and integrates natively with QuickBooks.
  • You can check out the business CC here - https://www.intuit.com/credit-card/

 

• Did I mention business solutions???  Mercury announced the launch of checkbooks on Mercury per this LinkedIn Post by founder and CEO, Immad Akhund; and can be ordered by Mercury Command (their AI-powered conversational interface – that’s cool!).
  • Mercury Release Notes | Latest Features & Product Updates states that each business can order up to six checkbooks per year for free.

 

• More business solutions…  Affirm (Nasdaq: AFRM) expands its existing BNPL services to Amazon Business Clients directly on the Amazon Business platform allowing eligible business owners to spread the cost of qualifying purchases over time, enhancing cash flow management and purchasing capacity without the complexities often associated with traditional business credit.  Amazon already offers Affirm BNPL at checkout for eligible consumer purchases.

 

• 👀 De Novo watch… 
  • Upstart Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: UPST) announced that the OCC has granted conditional approval to establish Upstart Bank, N.A.
  • Flexible Finance, Inc. (“Flex” - https://getflex.com/) announced it has submitted applications to the FDIC and the Utah Department of Financial Institutions to charter Flex Bank, a Utah state-chartered industrial bank (ILC).

 

• 👉 Speaking of De Novo’s…  We were talking about this internally just yesterday.  Here is a quick list of fintech de novo’s / charter applications since December (be sure to reach out to me if I missed anything):
  • Klarna, Affirm, Paypal, Upstart, Nubank, bunq, Mission Lane, OppFi (although they are buying a bank), Revolut, Mercury, and now Flex – makes 11.  Pretty exciting!!! 🚀

 

• FIS (NYSE: FIS) joins Anthropic's Project Glasswing to use Mythos 5 in a controlled-access setting to test and scan its own systems for vulnerabilities.

 

• Fiserv (Nasdaq: FISV) picks up another embedded finance win as they are now the exclusive embedded financial services and payments provider for Datavault AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: DVLT), including Datavault’s upcoming NIL Exchange platform.

 

• Lithic has partnered with Braid to bring card issuing to community banks and credit unions.

 

• Some personnel moves:
  • Smiley Technologies names Jeff Small as COO and CFO to “help guide Smiley’s financial and operational strategy as the company continues to strengthen alignment across teams, support disciplined growth, and serve community banks through secure, integrated technology and relationship-driven service.”
  • i2c Inc. announced the appointments of Joseph Schmidt as Chief Financial Officer and Jason Goldberg as Chief Client Officer.
  • 👀 Interesting to note from a banking perspective…  OpenAI announced that David Vélez and Robin Vince join the boards of the OpenAI Foundation and OpenAI Group PBC.
    • David is the founder, Chairman, and Global CEO of Nubank, recognized as the largest digital bank in Latin America. Robin is Chairman and CEO of BNY, a leading financial services company.

 

• FinTech funding for the week:
  • Augustus (de novo – conditional approval from the OCC) raised $180M in Series B round at a $1B valuation. 🦄
  • Cordant (real-time command center platform for payments companies, fintechs and banks operating across fragmented financial infrastructure) emerged from stealth and announced they have raised $8M in Seed funding.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 🏀 Well, looks like LeBron James is headed to Philly to play for the 76ers in what could be the last run of his career.  I admit that I did not see that coming!!!
• You made it!!!  Here are the Dad / Bad jokes to kick off the weekend:
  • Do Transformers have car insurance or life insurance…??? 🤔😆
  • If I had a dollar for every time I got distracted, oh look at the kitty. 🐈🙃
  • I was going to make a salad, but we can’t eat lettuce…  So, margaritas it is!!! 🎉😂🍸
  • Aunt Patty told me she had to use my deodorant this morning as she ran out.  She said she’s already going deaf and hasn’t been able to find anything all day! 🤦‍♂️🤣
  • When old folks say (especially in Texas), “Well, as long as you’re happy…”  That’s their way of saying, “You are a complete idiot!!!”  🤠

 
 
“The world needs good people - be one of them.”
 
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 and its affiliates – we all know he’s a little bit different; but that’s why we love him.