Uncle Sean’s Update 10/31/25

Happy Friday & Happy Halloween 🐈‍⬛🎃🦇!!!
We will be pausing the Uncle Sean Update next week due to our annual community bank and fintech conference, The Roundup powered by FedFis data – I hope to see you there 🤠!!!  In the meantime don’t forget to sign up here for free to receive the Uncle Sean Update delivered straight to your inbox.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/31/25:

• 🎉 I am super excited to announce that Bedel Security has renewed their sponsorship of Bankers Helping Bankers (BHB)!!!  Way back in the beginning – Bedel Security was one of the first to partner with BHB in our shared vision to help community banking – not just survive but thrive. 🫶 💪
  • “Bedel Security believed in us before the world knew who we were,” said Matthew Smith, CEO of Bankers Helping Bankers. “They stood beside us when this mission was just taking shape—and they’ve never wavered. Their renewal reminds every banker that true allies don’t just show up when it’s easy; they show up when it matters.”
    • So definitely check out Bedel Security and tell them Uncle Sean sent you!!! 😉

• It’s Fed Week!!!  As was widely expected, the FOMC voted to lower the fed funds rate by 25 bps to 3.75% – 4% and to end quantitative tightening (the reduction of its securities holdings) on Dec 1.
  • A couple of noteworthy comments from Chairman Powell (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean):
    • “In the near term, risks to inflation are tilted to the upside and risks to employment to the downside—a challenging situation. There is no risk-free path for policy as we navigate this tension between our employment and inflation goals.”
    • “In the Committee’s discussions at this meeting, there were strongly differing views about how to proceed in December. A further reduction in the policy rate at the December meeting is not a forgone conclusion—far from it.”
    • Regarding the lack of data due to the continued government shutdown… “what do you do if you’re driving in the fog? You slow down.”
  • And as always, here is the link to Chairman Powell’s Press Conference transcript (27 pages) and the Press Conference video (54:50)

• Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has confirmed that the five finalists to succeed Jay Powell as Federal Reserve chair are NEC director Kevin Hassett, Fed governor Christopher Waller, former Fed governor Kevin Warsh, BlackRock’s Rick Rieder and Fed governor Michelle Bowman.
• 👀 Infinant continues to win big!  This week Valley National Bank (FDIC 9396; total assets $63B; Nasdaq: VLY) announced it is partnering with Infinant to scale the bank’s Partner Banking and embedded finance capabilities by leveraging Infinant’s Interlace platform – infinant.com/platform.
  • I have to wonder – do the folks over at Infinant ever sleep???  They are on a roll!!

• LoanPro announced the launch of its Model Context Protocol (MCP) model-agnostic gateway enabling “LoanPro clients and partners to begin testing and developing their AI-powered credit servicing and collections initiatives, while ensuring regulatory guardrails and auditability.” 🚀
  • “Unlike basic chatbot integrations that stop at the recommendation layer, MCP acts as a secure protocol between any AI model and LoanPro’s core platform…”

• SkyOne Federal Credit Union (charter 6248; total assets $928M) selects Lumin Digital as its new digital banking provider for its 60,000+ members.
• Ascend Federal Credit Union (charter 7397; total assets $4.6B) launched their new BNPL program powered by equipifi for its 260,000+ members.
• 👉 Check out Qolo’s big announcement this week as The Huntington National Bank (FDIC 6560; total assets $210B) partners with Qolo to deliver a next-generation treasury solution for Huntington’s commercial clients.  Huntington’s Connected Deposits platform, their new ledgering and Virtual Account Management (VAM) platform, is designed to meet the evolving needs of commercial banking clients by enabling real-time cash visibility, streamlined reconciliation and scalable sub-account management – powered by Qolo’s flexible technology stack. Great win for the Qolo Team! 🤙
• Alogent partners with Vine to accelerate commercial lending workflows for banks and credit unions. “The collaboration integrates Vine’s AI-powered lending platform with Alogent’s AccuAccount loan management system, creating a unified document workflow that spans from application to post-close.”  Nice!!! 👏
• 💥 Uptiq (AI infrastructure for financial services) had a couple of announcements this week:
  • Tyfone has partnered with Uptiq’s enterprise AI platform to deliver actionable business insights for financial institutions that use Tyfone’s nFinia® Business Digital Banking Platform.
  • Uptiq.ai raised $12M in capital to drive large-scale adoption of Uptiq Qore, the company’s next-generation AI infrastructure platform for banks, credit unions, wealth managers, and fintech companies – enabling “financial institutions to build production-grade AI applications and agents in weeks, not months.”

• Carefull announced the launch of GreyMatter, its proprietary AI intelligence layer built to detect, prevent, and predict the complex risks of aging and money (elder fraud prevention) – helping financial institutions support older adults and next-generation financial caregivers.
  • This statistic really caught my attention, “30% of age-adjusted revenue at financial institutions is controlled by depositors and clients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).”  Check it out at getcarefull.com/greymatter! 👏

• FinWise Bancorp (Nasdaq: FINW; bank subsidiary is FinWise Bank; FDIC 35323; total assets $900M) announced a program management, network issuer processor and servicer agreement with Tallied Technologies, Inc. to deliver credit card products and card processing solutions to Fintechs, their businesses, and their customers.
• nbkc bank (FDIC 35014; total assets $1.2B) enhances its BaaS suite with Interchecks modern payments platform to deliver faster and more flexible payments.
  • “ This collaboration enhances nbkc’s BaaS platform by integrating Interchecks’ instant payment technology, enabling fintechs and non-bank innovators to deliver seamless “push-to-card” disbursements, sending funds directly to customers’ debit cards in real-time, without the delays of traditional payment rails.”

• Best Egg (currently servicing about $11B in personal loans) was acquired by Barclays (UK bank) for $800M to expand Barclays’ U.S. consumer banking presence.
• Some personnel moves:
  • Integris hires Kyle Wewe as its new Chief Revenue Officer.
  • equipifi names Karen Buell as COO per this LinkedIn post.
  • Dave appoints Parker Barrile as Chief Product Officer.
  • Fiserv announced multiple updates to leadership team and board refreshment including Takis Georgakopoulos promotion to Co-President, the hiring of Dhivya Suryadevara as Co-President, and Paul Todd joins as the new CFO.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • SavvyMoney (consumer financial wellness and growth solutions for FI’s) raised $225M in capital as a minority investment stating it has nearly “doubled its institutional footprint to over 1,500 partners since 2021 while expanding its digital banking capabilities through new product offerings and strategic acquisitions like CreditSnap, which now powers intelligent loan origination, deposit, and account onboarding solutions.”
  • Lettuce (fintech platform targeting self-employed and solopreneurs) raised $28M in Capital to expand its AI-powered operating system; and acquired Besolo, a benefits startup, for additional healthcare options and other benefits.

Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• PSA – Don’t forget to turn your clocks back 1 hour this weekend (technically at 2AM on Sunday, Nov 2) as we move from Daylight Savings Time (DT) to Standard Time (ST).  Of course, if you are in Hawaii or Arizona you are exempt from daylight savings time – so you don’t have to do anything. 🕰️
• The World Series is proving to be much more competitive than I originally expected.  Game 6 kicks off tonight at 7 CDT on FOX with the Toronto Blue Jays leading the series 3-2 putting the Los Angeles Dodgers in a must-win position (on the road nonetheless) to make it to Game 7.
• And of course, the obligatory Dad / Bad Jokes for the week:
  • Me – I should put a bowl of Halloween candy in my office in case anyone wants some…
    • Also me – Working from home… Alone… 🎃🍬😋
  • For our son, Marshall…😉 They’re called “deviled eggs” because the voices whisper and say… “go ahead and eat 25 of them”… 🤠
  • I got a job as a model…. I’m the “before” picture. 😂🤣
  • They say nothing is impossible, but I’ve been doing nothing all day (crushing it)!!! 😏😎
  • If by free spirits you mean an open bar, then YES – I love free spirits!!! 🍸🍷

Have a Happy Halloween, a GREAT weekend, and please stay safe!

Uncle Sean