Uncle Sean's Update - 8/26/22

​Happy Friday!!!
 
Hard to believe this is the last Friday in August already!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/26/22:
 

• Bankers Helping Bankers is at it again!!!!  This week highlights a partnership with BankLabs to add a white label loan participation marketplace to the BHB Platform allowing for automated loan trading for banks within BHB.
  • Powered by the BankLabs Participate product, it allows originators and participants to digitize and share loan info, documents, and automate workflow – potentially cutting weeks off the traditionally slow origination process.  Automating loan trading helps banks efficiently sell and manage loans (think concentration risk) to other banks that need quality loans.
  • The BHB loan marketplace will launch in late 2022.  This is truly “Bankers Helping Bankers.”  BOOYAH!!!!!

 

• Many eyes this week were on the Fed at the annual Jackson Hole policy symposium.  As expected, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell warned of some pain ahead to households and businesses as the Fed works to bring down inflation by a “forceful and rapid approach.”  Although the economy is showing signs of slowing from the record growth rates of 2021, Chairman Powell cautioned that higher rates may persist for a while.  
  • Chairman Powell stated, “Restoring price stability will likely require maintaining a restrictive policy stance for some time. The historical record cautions strongly against prematurely loosening policy.” 
  • Here is Chair Powell’s short and focused speech (a fairly quick 3+ minute read).
  • Meanwhile, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard spoke about the timing of fed funds rate increases and favors “front-loading,” or getting rate increases in earlier with his target of 3.75% to 4% by the end of the year per this very good CNBC interview (4 minute video).

 

• Computer Services, Inc. (CSI) (OTCQX: CSVI) announced a definitive agreement to be Acquired by Centerbridge and Bridgeport for $1.6 billion (cha-ching).  The cash transaction represents $58 per share purchase price which is about a 53% premium to CSI’s closing stock price on Aug. 19, 2022.
  • Upon completion of the transaction, CSI will become a privately held company, and its common stock will no longer be listed on any public market.

 

• DailyPay (on demand / earned wage access platform) has partnered with Visa to launch a Prepaid GPR Debit Card and a mobile banking app.

 

• Mortgage focused fintechs continue to feel the pian (along with other banks and residential RE originators in the space):
  • Better.com is conducting their 4th round of layoffs since Dec 2021 this week in response to a challenging mortgage environment as increasing mortgage rates, declining origination and refinancing, and general economic uncertainty hits the housing market and the broader mortgage industry.
  • Reali (RE proptech), a pioneer in 'buy before you sell' and 'cash offer' programs, announced they are closing operations by the end of the year; and will be laying off most of the workforce on Sep. 9, 2022 - also citing market conditions and unfavorable capital-raising environment.

 

• The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation announced that their blockchain settlement platform is now live and processing on average over 100,000 transactions per day in a parallel production environment.
  • DTCC’s distributed ledger technology-based (DLT) alternative settlement platform (Project Ion) was built on R3’s Corda technology and developed in a collaboration of a host of market participants including Apex Clearing Corp., Barclays, BNY Mellon, Charles Schwab Corp., Citadel Securities, Citi, Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC, Fidelity Investments, Fnality International, Goldman Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley & Co, Raymond James Financial Inc., Robinhood Securities LLC, State Street Corporation, and Virtu Financial Inc.
  • How’s that for some name dropping!  😲

 

• A new Direct Digital Bank is launching – say hello to Jenius Bank which will operate as a division of Manufacturers Bank (FDIC 18618; $4.9B total assets), a California state-chartered bank that is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japan based Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group, Inc. (NYSE: SFMG).
  • John Rosenfeld is President of Jenius Bank. He has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry; and was the founder and President of Citizens Access (an online direct bank of Citizens Bank).

 

• MX pulls in Wes Hummel as their new Chief Technology Officer.  Hummel was previously with PayPal for 14 years and most recently served as VP Site Reliability and Cloud Engineering.

 

• Okay, Uncle Sean doesn’t typically post other folks blogs – but the title of this one had me rolling (and the content is really good too)!!!!!!  Check out this article in Lawfare by Nicholas Weaver titled, OFAC around and find out – LMAO!!!

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Kasisto (AI virtual assistant / chatbot for financial services) raised $15.5M in Series C Extension for a total Series C round of $31M.  The extension was led by FIS and Westpac Banking Corporation with participation from BankSouth (worth noting that both Westpac and BankSouth are customers of Kasisto).
  • Highline Technologies (payroll linked loan payment automation platform) raised $13M in Series A funding round.
  • Nitra (healthcare fintech) raised $62M in capital consisting of $16M Seed Round plus a $46M debt facility; and launched a Visa Business Debit card for physicians.
  • Deposits (FI and FinTech middleware / connector startup) raised $5M Seed Round.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean Stuff:

• We should all take a moment to recognize that our very own FedFis CRO, Mr. Bobby Button no longer has a girlfriend……….  LOL!!!  SHE SAID YES - CONGRATULATIONS on your new marriage engagement!!!!!!!  😃

• Some odd things I stumbled across while surfing the internet (oops I mean working – you know doing “research” and other important stuff).  No, I did not fact check any of these but they are amusing, so - enjoy!!!
  • Apples wake you up more than coffee in the morning.  This is because of the high amounts of sugar that is found in apples. The vitamins from the apples also have similar effects to caffeine, thus making you feel more awake.
    • Ahhh, but what if you eat an apple with your coffee????  Now we are on to something!
  • Cat jaws cannot be moved sideways.  They are mainly built for killing prey and can open very wide to ensure their kill.  Cats also cannot easily chew their food.
    • Yep – likely explains why mine always seems to throw up after over-indulging on cat food (yuck).
  • A person will sleep an average of 25 years in their lifetime.  The average time a person sleeps at night is around 8 hours.  People also spend an average of 7 years trying to go to sleep.
    • Gee thanks….  Now I have something else to stress out about while trying to fall asleep – LOL!!!
  • Grapes explode in the microwave.  The water found in grapes interacts with the wavelengths of energy from the microwave.  After a few seconds, the radiation from the microwave and the plasma in the grape react together which causes the grapes to explode.
    • Hmmm…  I have a distinct feeling that Aunt Patty is not going to be very impressed with the mess I am about to make!!!  😉

 
 
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 smayo@fedfis.com | 214-604-6961 – or you can contact FedFis Sales Team at 512-960-0911 | info@fedfis.com #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.