Happy Friday!!!
It was a pretty light week in the news – which is what we probably needed after making it through the Super Bowl, Mardi Gras, and Valentine’s day over the past seven days!!! However, it was not without a couple of bombshells… Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 2/16/24:
Real quick – there are two pretty big stories out this week that, well quite frankly, are better covered by folks other than me; so I am just going to pass these along:
- First (ICYMI), Temenos was the focus of a recent Hindenburg Research Report (noted activist for taking short positions – this is their M.O.) which was highly critical (of course) of Temenos claiming accounting irregularities and multiple breach of contract scenarios due to alleged implementation/misrepresentation issues particularly in North America.
- Temenos fundamentally refutes the report stating “factual inaccuracies and analytical errors, together with false and misleading allegations, which are intended to adversely impact the Company’s share price.”
- Special credit goes out to Jason Mikula for posting this story on LinkedIn. For those that don’t know, Jason does an excellent job of investigative journalism in the fintech space. I encourage everyone to subscribe to his weekly newsletter, Fintech Business Weekly.
- Second is the OCC filed their Cease and Desist Order for Blue Ridge Bank (BRB). Do yourself a favor and follow Sarah Beth Felix on LinkedIn – she is the bomb 💣💥 on all things AML!!! Check out her excellent LinkedIn write-up on the BRB C&D here as there is plenty to learn.
Now back to the rest of the Uncle Sean Update:
- Well…. January CPI came in a little bit hotter 🔥than expected for the month at 0.3% (expectation was 0.2%) and 3.1% YoY (expectation was 2.9%). Excluding food and energy, Core CPI was 0.4% for the month (expectation was 0.3%) and 3.9% YoY (expectation was 3.7%). CNBC has a good summary as always – I love the trendline graphs as they give me hope. 😊
- While not a great reading for those looking for faster rate cuts – keep in mind that a single economic metric does not portray the entire picture. Monetary policy is still restrictive, and inflation is continuing to trend downward (YoY basis); and shelter (a lagging indicator) continues to be a stubborn drag on CPI.
- Ahhh, love (and credit) is in the air this Valentine’s week 💘… Neon Money Club (lifestyle themed fintech) announced the launch of ‘SCORE’, an online dating app for people with good to excellent credit scores.
- Yes, I do find the dating app / credit score link funny (in my head I’m hearing “you gotta be a 750 to go out with me” LOL 😊) – but to be 100% honest, I do agree with their overall message of raising awareness about the importance of finances in relationships. ✌️
- This continues to pick up steam in the US… More pay-by-bank headlines as FIS (NYSE: FIS) announced a strategic partnership with Banked to drive new pay-by-bank offerings for both businesses and consumers.
- Nacha flex 💪 as the ACH Network records strong growth in 2023 citing 31.5 billion payments (up 4.8% over 2022) valued at $80.1 trillion (up 4.4% over 2022). 4th quarter 2023 growth was accelerating at 8.1 billion ACH payments made with a total value of $20.5 trillion, increases of 5.8% and 5.6% respectively over 4Q2022.
- Strong growth in Same Day ACH and business-to-business (B2B) payments.
- Overall, the ACH Network averaged more than 126 million payments per day – WHOOF!!
- In the mortgage world, Guild Mortgage (NYSE: GHLD) acquired Academy Mortgage. Academy’s loan volume represents an approximate 25% increase in annual origination volume for Guild and the combined company would be the 8th largest non-bank retail lender in the country.
- More mortgage news – Better announced the launch of a fully digital VA loan with no down payment. Check it out at better.com/va-loan.
- Grasshopper Bank (FDIC 59113) partnered with Greenlite for AI-powered enhanced due diligence for Grasshopper’s small and medium-sized business (SMB) and startup clients from digital channels including partnerships with fintech companies.
- FinWise Bank (FDIC 35323) is Earnest’s newest banking partner to originate Earnest Private Student Loans.
- SoFi (NASDAQ: SOFI) is now the official banking partner of the NBA, NBA G League, NBA 2K League and USA Basketball in a multi-year partnership.
- Advantage Payment Services (APS) announced a strategic partnership with Sutton Bank to offer APS’ Advantage Platform regulatory compliance technology to clients of Sutton Bank
- FIntegrate Technology continues to innovate and automate their dispute management system with the new integration of e-OSCAR into their FusionDMS suite.
- “e-OSCAR Integration is rolling out in this quarter for all FIs dealing with credit bureau disputes. FusionDMS’s automated e-OSCAR integration eliminates the need to review and update data into different systems manually. e-OSCAR, a product used by all financial institutions to handle credit bureau disputes, can now be managed directly in FusionDMS, eliminating the need for manual entry and errors.”
- Interesting personnel moves:
- Former PayPal exec Gabrielle Rabinovitch is the new CFO at Worldpay.
- Mission Lane appoints current board member Brandon Black as CEO.
- Notable FinTech funding for the week:
- Cascading AI (responsible AI for banking) raised $3.9M in pre-seed funding. Check out their flagship product, Casca – an AI-native commercial loan origination system at cascading.ai.
- Parlay Finance (white-labeled enhancement tool for FI SMB loan origination systems) raised $1.3M in pre-seed funding.
- Ribbon (helping banks automate inheritance claims) raised $2.7M in pre-seed funding.
Random Uncle Sean stuff:
- Congrats to the Kansas City Chiefs for winning Super Bowl LVIII! The Chiefs now have 4 Super Bowl victories under their belt including 3 out of the last 5. That game got really exciting late in the 3rd quarter and was crazy wild going into overtime. 🏈
- And now we wait…….. Only six more months until football season…. Wait, WHAT??? Ugh!!!! 😢
- Okay – we have to make this quick as I am SOOOO ready for the weekend!!!! Here are the coveted Dad / Bad Jokes to close out our Friday 🍺:
- When you start to doze off on the couch before bed, it’s like a sleep appetizer… A nappetizer if you will… 😴💤
- Confucius says, “be careful when following the masses… As sometimes the ‘M’ is silent…” 😲😆
- Alas – an accounting test Dad joke: 🤓
- Q: Illustrate how to capitalize expenses
- A: expenses → EXPENSES (that is so dorky that I love it!!!) 😂🤣
Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!!!
Uncle Sean
