Uncle Sean's Update - 8/29/25

​Happy Friday, Happy Labor Day Weekend, & Hello College Football 🏈 – we’ve missed you!!! 
 
Be sure to sign up here to have the Uncle Sean Update and Fintech Cowboys delivered straight to your inbox every week (with 18,000+ subscribers - it’s cooler than a Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift engagement party 🤠)!!!  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 8/29/25:
 
On a personal note…:
I am proud to share that I have just completed my 5th straight year presenting as a Guest Lecturer at Mays Business School - Texas A&M University with their Commercial Banking Program (my presentation was on sponsor banks and embedded finance).  While I am always impressed with the energy and engagement of these young professionals, something happened this year that was really cool and made a lasting impression on me!  When talking about Direct Digital Banks (a division of a chartered institution), I asked them to look up BADASS BANK (“banking for badasses”) on their laptops as an example of niche / target marketing of a direct digital bank brand.  The students came alive and were laughing, nodding their heads in approval, and showing each other pics (the Pink Card was a hit).  Within about 2 minutes they were also sharing pics of the Sturgis Rally (where Badass.Bank is a sponsor) and absolutely loved the Badass Sturgis survival guide links.  The excitement in the room was electrifying and certainly made that part of my presentation an easy success – and one to remember!

• Badass.bank is a division of Stryv Bank (FDIC 21955; total assets $258M) and powered by DCI.  Based on the response of these young professionals entering the commercial banking world – Badass Bank has hit a marketing home run! 👍

 
Okay – back to the rest of the Update 😊:

• 2QGDP (second estimate) came in at 3.3%, up from the initial estimate of 3.0% for second quarter.  The increase in estimate was primarily due to upward revisions to investment and consumer spending that were partly offset by a downward revision to government spending and an upward revision to imports.
  • Note that “real final sales to private domestic purchasers” (kind of like core GDP) was revised up from 1.2% to 1.9%.

 

• The BLS July PCE Report came in exactly as expected across the board at 2.6% YoY (estimate was 2.6% and last month was 2.6%).  Core PCE came in at 2.9% (estimate was 2.9% and last month was 2.8%). Consumer spending increased 0.5% on the month, in line with forecasts and indicative of strength despite the higher prices. Personal income accelerated 0.4%.

 

• 👉 Thread Bank (FDIC 9499; total assets $800M; embedded finance and BaaS sponsor bank) selects Finxact from Fiserv to power embedded banking strategies.
  • Bankers Helping Bankers (hey - I know those folks! 🤠) played an instrumental role in fostering the expansion of the relationship and formalizing the shared vision between Thread Bank, Fiserv, and Infinant.
    • Finxact’s API-first approach, combined with Fiserv’s experience in compliance, becomes a powerful and scalable solution by leveraging Infinant and their Interlace Platform as the embedded banking layer for Finxact’s API core.  This provides Thread Bank and its customers a modern user interface to access and manage Thread’s embedded and core banking capabilities along with payment processing - serving as a blueprint model for community banks. 🚀

 

• And another CU acquisition of a bank…  This week we have Land of Lincoln Credit Union (charter 63716; total assets $478M) to acquire Williamsville State Bank & Trust (FDIC 12388; total assets $97M).  Some additional Uncle Sean details:
  • Note that Land of Lincoln has been a serial bank acquirer as this is their 3rd announced acquisition of a bank (4/28/23 Nokomis Savings Bank; 12/22/22 Colchester State Bank).  All small banks with less than $100M in total assets and an emphasis on Illinois market expansion (branch footprint) for the CU.
    • Williamsville State Bank & Trust is concentrated in 1-4 mortgages, but only has a loan to deposit ratio of 33.56% - resulting in a substantial $43M securities portfolio for their size (total assets $97M).  All securities are listed as AFS so AOCI (mark-to-market securities adjustment) is already accounted for in total equity of $9.8M.
    • Williamsville Bank &Trust also has a low-cost deposit base of $86M at 1.15% total Cost of Funds – very attractive to the CU.
  • If you are keeping score, this is the 11th announced CU acquisition of a bank thus far for 2025 (whole bank acquisition).  This compares to 22 for 2024, 11 in 2023, 16 in 2022, 13 in 2021, 7 in 2020, and 16 in 2019 (source: FedFis M&A database).

 

• 👀 CSI announced Michel Jacobs as its new Chief Strategy Officer.  Jacobs brings more than three decades of strategic financial technology, digital banking and payments experience to CSI, where he will be a key driver of the company’s enterprise-level strategy via market expansion, strategic M&A activities, business diversification and value creation initiatives.

 

• Sightline Payments partners with Cross River Bank to create Sightline Debit – “a frictionless, customer-centric experience that streamlines both spending and wagering. This not only lowers payment costs for operators by minimizing the constant churn cycle of withdrawals and deposits, it also gives patrons access to their own funds anytime, anywhere, and in any way, in their own personal FDIC insured bank account.”

 

• The FDIC released their Quarterly Banking Profile Report - Second Quarter 2025.  A few key points:
  • Net Income decreased by about 1% from last quarter due to a larger provision expense due to the Capital One and Discover merger (absent this large provision expense, net income would have increased).
  • Unrealized losses on securities continues to shrink (improve), although still at a massive $395.3B (decreased $17.9B or 4.3%).
  • The DIF is fully funded at 1.36% and now exceeds statutory minimum.
  • NIM remained flat over 1Q.  Asset Quality remains favorable.  Loan Growth accelerated; and Domestic Deposits increased for the fourth consecutive quarter.
  • The total number of banks on the list decreased by a net of four in the second quarter to 59 banks. The number of problem banks is 1.3 percent of total banks, which is in the middle of the normal range for non-crisis periods of 1 to 2 percent of all banks.
    • For reference, our FedFis Rating© is tracking 66 banks in the lowest 1% scoring 3.90 or higher (on a 1.00 – 5.00 scale with 1.00 being best).

 

• Yep, Uncle Sean loves this! 😊  Marshall Community Credit Union (MCCU; charter 62160; total assets $350M) partners with local High School on Fin Ed and launched MCCU’s “CU in School” program and a student-run credit union branch at Battle Creek Central High School (BCCHS). 👏  The credit union added that the student-run branch will open during the 2026/27 school year and will serve as an internship opportunity for two high school seniors enrolled in the Business, Engineering, and Industrial Technology (BEIT) Academy.
  • “CU in School”…  That is fantastic!!!!! 💥

 

• Narmi partners with Atomic to bring direct deposit switching and payroll connectivity to banks and credit unions using the Narmi One digital banking platform.

 

• Hanmi Bank (FDIC 24170; total assets $7.8B) selects Lenders Cooperative to support the bank’s commercial and SBA lending operations across the United States.
  • As part of Hanmi Bank’s “Simple Loans” initiative in major markets including Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, New York, and Chicago, the adoption of Lenders Cooperative’s platform will allow the bank to automate loan workflows, enhance internal efficiencies, and accelerate access to capital for businesses nationwide.

 

• 👏 Congrats to Battle Bank as the Fed Approves Battle Financial to Form Bank Holding Company, acquisition of Stearns Bank Upsala, N.A. to Launch Battle Bank N.A.
  • “From day one, we’ve been building a different kind of bank — one that is built on similar ideas and values and not constrained by location,” added Rick Rule, a lead investor in Battle Financial, Inc. “Now that the regulators have given us the green light, we’re ready to deliver.”  To learn more or sign up for the Waitlist, visit: www.battlebank.com

 

• Prove (in the red-hot digital identity space) announced a partnership with FNBO (FDIC 5452; total assets $31.6B) to modernize customer onboarding.
  • “By leveraging the Prove - Pre-Fill identity verification solution, FNBO is revolutionizing its customer onboarding process for co-branded cards to a seamless, secure, and digital-first experience.”

 

• MANTL announced the launch of MANTL Bulk Account Opening to help Fi’s open multiple retail or business accounts through a single application.
  • “In particular, MANTL Bulk Account Opening is poised to transform in-branch business account onboarding, delivering substantial efficiency gains for frontline teams. Early adopters have already opened as many as 14 business accounts in a single, streamlined application workflow, reducing administrative burden and creating more opportunities to deepen relationships with business customers.”

 

• Oof 😯…  Another data breach at TransUnion hits 4.4 million consumers exposing customers’ names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers per this filing with Texas AG.  In 2022, the firm was hit with a $15 million ransomware demand for the return of 54 million customer records.

 

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Payment Labs (API-driven platform for fast, secure payments targeting high-growth industries such as sports, esports, and the creator economy) raised $3.25M in Seed funding.
  • Atomic Invest (investing as a service for fintech, banks, and consumer companies) raised $30M in growth capital, following up on their $25M Series A round in Nov 2021.

 
 
Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• YAY – our first “cold” front has hit Texas (and we got some much-needed rain)! 🎉  Here in East Texas we are expecting highs in the upper 80’s next week with lows in the low to mid 60’s!!!!  May not seem like much, but I’ll take it after consistently hitting 100 degrees last week with a heat index of 110! 😵‍💫😊
• Certainly looking forward to this Labor Day weekend with plenty of football, family bbq (nom, nom, nom), and cooler weather!!!  ❤️❤️❤️
• Okay – lets close it out with the Dad / Bad Jokes (it’s Friday – time to be a hero and rescue some wine trapped in a bottle 🍷😊):
  • I don’t mean to brag too much, but…   I am so good at sleeping, I can do it with my eyes closed! 😉😴
  • If you spell “absolutely nothing” backwards, you get “gnihton yletulosba” – which, coincidentally, means absolutely nothing… 🙄🫤
  • So when exactly did the Bermuda Triangle stop working…???  Not a lot of drama going on there anymore…  It’s almost like it “disappeared”… 🤔😅
  • One final thought-provoking comment…
    • Space could literally be full of vampires, but we would never know because telescopes use mirrors… 🧛‍♂️🤔🙃

 
 
Have a GREAT Labor Day 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.