Uncle Sean’s Update 10/16/26

Happy Friday!!!

It was a short week for many of us with the Columbus Day Holiday this past Monday but action-packed, nonetheless.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/16/26 (subscribe here for free):

• The BLS September CPI came in hot at 3.7% YoY (last month was 3.4%) with Core CPI at 2.6% (last month was 2.4%)…
  • YoY Energy Index increased 20.4% (subsector prices for gasoline increased 34.2%, prices for fuel oil rose 74.2%, and airline fares were up 22.4%) – Table 2 of the CPI Report.
• But hey – here’s some good news for our senior citizens as the Social Security Administration announced a 3.6% benefit increase for 2027 as a cost-of living adjustment (COLA).  SS benefits are adjusted annually by law and tied the increase in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W based on YoY change from 3Q2025 to 3Q2026) from the BLS.  Last year’s increase was 2.8%.
• ICYMI (and I don’t know how you could have), the U.S. Treasury Announces Record Enforcement Actions Against Bank of America to the tune of $1.21B for violations of anti-money laundering and sanctions laws.
  • As always with all things BSA / AML be sure to check out Sarah Beth Felix LinkedIn post covering the 111 pages of orders/penalties issued against Bank of America.  For her full writeup with lessons learned, to-dos, infographic for SAR programs, and more – be sure to subscribe to her Substack at https://dirtymoneyweekly.substack.com/.
• Lumin Digital gets the flex of the week 💪 by announcing seven FI’s have gone live on Lumin in just over four months spanning 19 platform modules, three different core systems (JKHY Symitar, Corelation Keystone, and Fiserv DNA), and two conversions in the middle of a merger – “bringing nearly one million users onto its cloud-native platform.” 🚀
• 👉 Unit21 partners with Corelation Keystone (core processor for 300+ CU’s) bringing AI-native fraud prevention and AML monitoring to credit unions on Keystone.  For more detail regarding the Unit21 + Corelation integration, check out the Unit 21 blog.
• 🤖 FIS (NYSE: FIS) announced that the FIS AML Investigations Agent, an AI-powered compliance tool built by FIS with Anthropic jointly announced back in May, is now commercially available to any U.S.-based bank, including those that are not FIS clients today.
• Glades Bank & Trust (proposed de novo bank in South Florida) has selected CSI’s NuPoint® core and Apiture® digital banking solutions to support its launch and long-term growth. 👏
• Alogent announced a new partnership with Smiley Technologies to modernize item processing for community banks.  “Smiley Technologies will modernize its technology foundation with Unify, empowering bankers with a more efficient approach to deposit operations through real-time item processing, exception decisioning, and enterprise-wide automation that reduces risk, improves customer service, and streamlines deposit workflows.”
• 🤖 Emprise Bank (FDIC 4789; total assets $2.8B) announced a design partnership with Maximum, an AI-native banking infrastructure company, to transform its core banking system providing a unified system for data, operations, intelligence and the next generation of financial products.
• 🎉 Shoutout to my friends at NXTMOVES as Thredd (AI-first issuer processing platform) announced a new strategic partnership with NXTMOVES.  This partnership brings together Thredd’s AI-first modern issuer processing platform and NXTMOVES modern credit operating infrastructure and expertise.  End result is a powerful and efficient solution that provides a complete path to launch, manage, and scale a modern credit card program. 🤘
• And Thredd gets a twofer this week as Thredd also announced a partnership with Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT) to power a credit card-as-a-service program in the U.S. designed to settle in stablecoins.
• 👀De Novo watch…:
  • Upgrade announced it has submitted applications to the Nevada Financial Institutions Division and the FDIC to establish Upgrade Bank, a proposed Nevada-chartered industrial loan bank.  Virginia Varela has been named CEO of Upgrade Bank.

• Splitit (global installment payments platform) announced the launch of the Splitit World Mastercard, a white-label credit card installment solution designed for mid-sized banks and credit unions.
  • This PYMNTS article (Splitit Bets a White-Label Card Can Make Banks BNPL Players) gives a deeper look at putting installments on a card stating:
    • “Splitit’s answer is to let each bank pick its own role. Regional and super-regional banks can bring their own capital and use Splitit mainly for the technology. Community banks and credit unions can have Splitit bring the underwriting, risk management, liquidity and servicing along with the technology, and carry the credit risk itself. That last part is new for Splitit, whose installments have historically ridden on credit consumers already had.”
    • “Banks can also change their minds. Several have asked whether they can start with Splitit as the lender and servicer, then take over if the program grows. Splitit built the model to allow that. It runs its own issuer processor and has built adapters for the larger processors, so a bank can launch on Splitit’s platform and later move the program onto the processor it already uses.”
• Zip (ASX: ZIP) announced plans to launch Zip Cash in the U.S., a same-day cash loan product that extends Zip’s installment-payment experience beyond point of purchase checkout.  Eligible customers may be able to access loans of up to $500 with applicable repayment terms with funds deposited into their connected bank account as soon as the same business day. Loans through Zip are originated by WebBank.
• Acorns continues their acquisition path…  This week they announced the acquisition of Frich Money (social financial education platform).  Frich co-founders Katrin Kaurov and Alexsandra Medina will join Acorns as Co-Leads of Education & Community. 🤙
  • Acorns has been busy over the last few years… Just a few recent U.S. acquisition notes:
    • 2025 Acorns acquired Zeta (family and couples banking app)
    • 2024 Acorns acquired EarlyBird (investment gifting platform for families) and Chronifi
    • 2023 Acorns acquired GoHenry (family banking app)
• First South Financial Credit Union (charter 24963; total assets $845M) launched in-house BNPL solution, powered by equipifi, and embedded directly into its mobile and online banking platform.  The BNPL solution enables its members to either: 1) split eligible completed debit card purchases into installments (post purchase); or 2) access additional funds before shopping (pre purchase).
• 💥 A big CU merger as Michigan State University FCU (charter 23279; total assets $8.9B) to acquire UFCU in Texas (charter 1367; total assets $4.3B).  Stratified by asset size (as of Jun 2026), this combination will result in the 19th largest CU in the nation, directly behind Vystar.
  • Here are some free BaaS insights:
    • Michigan State University Federal Credit Union (MSUFCU; charter 23279; total assets $8.9B) has multiple Direct Digital Bank brands (AlumniFi, Collegiate, and Pillur) and will be added as a BaaS Sponsor Bank for 3Q FinTech Analytics (Bolt by Resada Group https://www.resedagroup.com/products/bolt/ is a BaaS platform and wholly-owned CUSO of MSUFCU).  In my opinion, MSUFCU is certainly one of leading innovative CU’s in the country.
      • Tapp Engine is their first fintech – https://msufcucommunity.org/press-release/new-baas-platform-bolt-by-reseda-group-launches-with-first-fintech-partner-tapp-engine/
• On the fintech funding side, Ramp (corporate spend platform) raised $1.85B in capital at a $60B valuation 💥 citing over 85,000 customers with more than $275B in annualized purchase volume, and over $2B in annualized revenue with positive cash flow.  💰💰💰
• More business banking news as Stifel (NYSE: SF) announced they have made a strategic investment in Meow (business banking fintech) and will offer a white-label version of Meow’s treasury management platform to Stifel Bank commercial banking clients.

Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• 👀 ICYMI…  Elon Musk and Tesla unveiled the redesigned Roadster (the videos are absolutely incredible) equipped with air tanks and thrusters enabling the vehicle to literally drive upside down (via suction system) and jump and twist in midair using built-in thrusters.  Oh and it can go from zero to 60 in less than 1 second… 🚀
• ⚾ In a complete role reversal from last year, the Milwaukee Brewers are headed to their first World Series in 44 years after sweeping the LA Dodgers for the National League Championship.  The Brewers will face either the Cleveland Guardians or the Tampa Bay Rays.
• 🏈 Plenty of college football games worth paying attention to this weekend: #4 Ohio State at #5 Indiana; #6 Alabama at #14 Tennessee; #13 Missouri at #9 Ole Miss; and #2 Notre Dame at #8 BYU.  I’m also curious to see how Oklahoma (hosting #15 Kentucky) and Texas (hosting unranked Florida) respond after last weeks thrilling Red River Rivalry game.
• And here are the Dad / Bad Jokes:
  • They say money talks…  But mine mostly just waves goodbye! 😢😂
  • Dropping some Dad wisdom here…  The word bed is actually shaped like… a bed… 😉🤓
  • My favorite childhood memory is when bills didn’t have my name on them! 🤠
  • I haven’t been sleeping well so I went to a doctor and he said I have insomnia.  I asked, “Is it serious?”  He said, “no need for alarm.”  (oh c’mon that was a good one!!!)⏰😅
  • And my favorite for the week:
    • Did you hear about the research claiming ketchup and mustard are the worst condiments for your health???  The study was done at the Mayo Clinic…  (no, not an actual study – this is a mayonnaise joke – no relation the Mayo Clinic – please don’t sue me) LOL!!!  😂🤣

“The world needs good people – be one of them.”

Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!

Uncle Sean