Uncle Sean’s Update 10/9/26

Happy Friday!!!

It was fairly light in the news this week (I’m not complaining) as we head into the Columbus Day holiday weekend.  Next week gets busy as we have big bank Q3 earnings announcements, Sept CPI and PPI, as well as The Federal Reserve Beige Book.  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 10/9/26 (subscribe here for free):

• Another week and another feature add for Walmart’s OnePay…  This week OnePay Personal Loans has officially launched providing fixed rate personal loans ranging from $1,000 to $50,000​ with 3 different payment plans (terms typically range from 24 to 84 months) and powered by Upgrade.
• FedEx Dataworks (FedEx’s data analytics firm) and Stripe announced a long-term strategic collaboration  to help “logistics-heavy” SMB’s obtain access to financing through Stripe Capital (I see you Celtic Bank and Lead Bank 😉).  Additionally, FedEx will begin using Stripe as an option to process payments, adding more than 50 new payment methods to their checkouts through Stripe.
  • This Payments Dive article is a very good summary.
• equipifi announced upgraded Risk-Based Pricing for BNPL as an enhancement to its existing decision engine – enabling lending teams to now have more flexibility to tailor BNPL offers to each account holder’s real-time financial context, while curating offers that are competitive with the largest direct-to-consumer installment loan offerings for high-qualified borrowers.
•  👀 De Novo watch – congrats 🎉 to the following:
• • Alba Bank received conditional FDIC approval as a state nonmember commercial bank in Texas.  Initial paid-in capital requirement of $37M and a Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 10%.
  • The FDIC also granted conditional FDIC approval to establish New South Bank as a state nonmember bank in Florida.  Initial paid-in capital requirement of $25M and a Tier 1 capital ratio of at least 10%.
    • The organizers of New South Bank have already received conditional approval from the Florida Office of Financial Regulation for a state bank charter on Sept 1, 2026.
• FI Works and OMNICOMMANDER announced a new strategic partnership to help community FI’s turn data into targeted growth.
  • FI Works brings the relationship intelligence direct from the core, digital banking, lending, and other systems to identify opportunities within customer and member relationships while OMNICOMMANDER brings the websites, campaigns, and digital marketing to act on those insights and help community banks and CU’s succeed. 🤘
• Parlay announced a partnership with nCino (Nasdaq: NCNO) pairing Parlay’s intelligent front-end experience for SBA loans with nCino’s Commercial and Small Business Solutions, giving every SBA lender in the country one connected, AI-native path from inquiry to originated loan.
• Narmi announced the launch of Digital ID Prefill allowing eligible consumers to securely populate a new account opening using information from a digital ID stored in Google Wallet.
• Lumin Digital announced the launch of Lumin Signal (behavioral intelligence) giving financial institutions greater visibility into how retail and business users navigate the digital banking experience and the tools to act on those insights directly within the Lumin platform.
•  BayCoast Bank (FDIC 90196; total assets $2.9B) is the latest multi-billion-dollar bank to partner with InvestiFi to integrate digital investing directly within BayCoast Bank’s existing online and mobile banking platform for its 46,000+ account holders. 🚀
• Montana Bankers Association endorses Stablecore as a preferred technology provider for the association’s 33 member institutions, helping banks across Montana offer stablecoin and digital asset products, stay competitive and provide added value to current and new customers. 🤙
• Monarch (PFM app) acquires banking infrastructure firm MBI (formerly known as HMBradley – now there’s a blast from the past).  The entire MBI team will transfer over to Monarch, including Zach Brunke, who has started a new role heading Monarch Labs, a newly established internal innovation and product division.  The acquisition coincides with the PFM app hitting $100M in annual recurring revenue. 💪
• The OCC issued a cease-and-desist and a $350M civil money penalty against American Express National Bank (FDIC 27471; total assets $214B) for deficiencies in the bank’s BSA and AML compliance program.
  • American Express issued their own statement saying it “…takes its responsibility to combat financial crimes seriously. We are fully committed to addressing the concerns outlined by the FRB and OCC and continuing to strengthen our Financial Crimes Compliance program.”
    • As always…  For all things BSA / AML, be sure to follow the amazing Sarah Beth Felix – here is a link to her LinkedIn writeup related to the OCC $350M penalty against American Express National Bank.

Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• The legendary Mike Ditka passed away today at the fantastic age of 86. This Yahoo! Sports article is a fantastic tribute (be sure to scroll down to see the social media tributes pour in).
  • As a kid who got his drivers license in 1986, the ’85 Bears and their Super Bowl win still hold a special place in my heart (of course I have included The Super Bowl Shuffle rap video that the players released seven weeks before the actual game). Da Bears!
    • On a serious note, perhaps my favorite Ditka quote that summed up his tenacity and work ethic is, “Success isn’t permanent and failure isn’t fatal.”  Indeed – rest in peace, Coach.
• Speaking of football 🏈, there are quite a few college rivalry games this weekend.  #12 UCLA at #13 Oregon in a west coast shootout; #1 Texas and unranked Oklahoma square up in a rivalry that began in 1900; and #2 Georgia at #6 Alabama (no love loss there).
  • I am hoping that Oklahoma defense will pressure Arch Manning just enough to keep it close (maybe even eke out a W), but I have plenty of tissues ready 😢😭 in the event the Texas machine gets rolling.
• Alright – let’s close it out with the Dad / Bad jokes:
  • I’m launching a website called “Older Fans” where I post today’s injury and the wildly normal thing that caused it!!! 🤷‍♂️👴😅
  • I had my car towed today…  There’s nothing wrong with it.  It was just cheaper than buying gas! 💰💰💰
  • It’s never too late to start exercising…  That’s why I’m waiting until later!!! 🤠
  • And my favorite for the week:
    • My lovely daughter asked if I’ve seen her TikTok…  Good Lord girl – it’s called a watch!!! 🙃🤣

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

Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!

Uncle Sean