Uncle Sean’s Update 9/26/25

Happy Friday!!!
Celebrating the first week of Fall and some cooler temps finally!!! 🎃🍂  Here is the Uncle Sean Update for 9/26/25 (click here to subscribe):

Some quick economic data:

• 3rd (and final) estimate of 2Q25 GDP jumped up to 3.8% (estimate was 3.3%) with a big jump in real final sales to private domestic purchasers (kind of like “core GDP’) to 2.9% – all buoyed by consumer spending.
• The BLS August PCE came in as expected across the board at 2.7% YoY (2.6% last month) and 0.3% for the month with Core PCE at 2.9% YoY (same as last month) and 0.2% for the month.  This CNBC article states that the report further indicates that President Trump’s tariffs have had only a limited pass-through effect so far on consumer prices.
• Government shutdown?  Yep – here we are again…  Congress has just days left to pass a stopgap bill to keep the government fully funded past Tuesday, 9/30. 🙄
• Uncle Sean’s take (not that anyone asked 😊)…
  • With all of the above (especially Congress not getting their job done 😠) – keep an eye on 9/30 closing in the bond market as this will be the new measuring stick (post FOMC rate cut) for unrealized losses in securities for 3Q reporting.

Back to the rest of the Update:

• FIS (NYSE: FIS) acquires Amount strengthening FIS’ account origination position for banks and CU’s “with a market-leading unified solution with embedded AI functionality for deposits, lending, and card solutions to support consumers and small and midsize businesses (SMBs).”
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The PR stated that the “acquisition aligns with FIS’ strategy to add innovative, cloud-native and modular solutions to drive greater value for its clients across the money lifecycle.”
  • 👉 Recall last week where we talked about FIS’ Bank Modernization Framework (labeled as “core-agnostic”) and associated core banking modernization whitepaper.

• Fiserv (NYSE: FI) acquires Smith Consulting Group (SMG) expanding on its’ advisory services for banks and CU’s that are seeking guidance on their strategic direction and investment related to core processing and surrounding solutions.
  • “The addition of SCG reinforces Fiserv’s position as a leading provider of core banking and advisory services, enhancing the firm’s ability to deliver end-to-end transformation for community banks and credit unions.  SCG consulting services will span DNA, Signature, Bank Intelligence and other Fiserv banking platforms.” (bold emphasis added by Uncle Sean)
    • “SCG supports banking software system conversions and implementations, as well as consulting services focused on core, teller, customer service and call center platforms, online and mobile banking, and various other interfaces. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

• Finastra announced the launch of its modern ACH payment solution enabling them to now support all US payment clearings – ACH, wires, and real-time payments, within a unified payment hub, Finastra’s Global PAYplus.
  • The Finastra ACH Module includes “same-day ACH, early pay, and late return handling, while offering rich APIs for operational control and integration. Its user-friendly interface, enhanced scalability, and the ability to handle large-scale transaction volumes make the solution easily adaptable to meet the unique needs of both large and small financial institutions.”

• Virtual high-five 🙌 to R&T Deposit Solutions as they entered into an agreement with Citizens Bank, N.A. (FDIC 57957; total assets $218B), which will serve as their new custodian and settlement bank for the DDM® and CDMX℠ Programs per this LinkedIn post from their CEO, Susan Cosgrove.  Nice!!! 😊
• And a shout-out to our friends at InvestiFi…  Remember back in late July where Illiana Financial Credit Union partnered with InvestiFi for a full suite of investing tools for its members?  Well, this LinkedIn post states that Illiana Financial CU is now live with all three of InvestiFi’s digital investing products (securities, guided investing, and crypto) through their CU*Answers platform.  Congrats on a quick and successful implementation!!! 👍
• Congrats to the Vine Team as Crest Savings Bank (FDIC 28818; total assets $568M) selects Vine Financial and their AI-powered platform to support the banks entire commercial lending platform streamlining the full commercial loan lifecycle. 💥
• Axos Bank (NYSE: AX; FDIC 35546; total assets $24B) acquires Verdant Commercial Capital for $43.5M enhancing the banks existing equipment leasing business; and provides additional cross-sell opportunities for commercial deposits and floorplan lending in several diversified industry verticals.
• Flex of the week 💪 goes to Klarna as they announce 1 million US signups in just 11 weeks for their debit-first Klarna Card.  “Americans are signing up for the card at a rate of 13,000 a day, hitting a peak of 50,000 sign-ups on 23 September.”  Wow!!!!
• 👉 Speaking of flexing and BNPL…  equipifi (a direct FI solution as opposed to third-party leakage out of the FI) continues their impressive FI market expansion in the BNPL space with a pair of Texas announcements this week.  equipifi’s BNPL solution is available for both online and mobile for qualifying debit purchases to be split into installments for both pre- and post-purchase flexibility.  Be sure to check them out at equipifi.com and tell them Uncle Sean sent you! 🚀
  • Gulf Coast Educators FCU (charter 5648; total assets $1.2B) selects equipifi for their in-house BNPL solution for their 60,000 members.
  • Education First FCU (charter 24470; total assets $600M) selects equipifi in-house BNPL solution for their 32,000 members.
  • And congratulations 🎉 to my friend Joe Swint (okay, he’s pretty much everyone’s friend – LOL) as a new Account Executive at equipifi!  Let us know if there is anything we can help you with here at FedFis, Joe.  And happy belated birthday too!!! 🤠🎂

• Fold Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: FLD) announced the upcoming launch of the Fold Bitcoin Rewards Credit Card (Visa) powered by Stripe.  This adds to Fold’s fintech offerings including the Fold App, Gift Card, and Visa Prepaid Debit Card issued by Sutton Bank.
• Bolt (checkout, identity, and payments platform) announced the official launch of its all-in-one SuperApp bridging the fiat-crypto gap and giving users a unified way to shop, spend, save, earn and invest.
  • Banking services provided by Midland States Bank.  Crypto infrastructure is powered by Zero Hash.

• Couple of odd headlines for my counterparty / third-party risk superfreaks (like me 😊):
  • Ridin’ The Storm Out (yes, that’s a nod to REO Speedwagon)…  Keep an eye on storms in the Atlantic as Imelda could dump heavy rain early next week over the Southeastern coastline.
  • This is not good…  Air Force cyber leader warns threats against US operational technology networks are growing – emphasizing US military concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure to China-backed actors (particularly Volt Typhoon and Salt Typhoon) that have had persistent access in critical information, key resources (CIKR) for five years.

• Some personnel moves:
  • Pipe named Vijay Vachani as Chief Revenue Officer.
  • Ncontracts appoints Sonja Tsiridis as Chief Technology Officer.
  • Lendio hires Joanna Fankhauser as Chief Operations Officer.

• Notable FinTech funding for the week:
  • Cardless raised $60M in Series C funding round.

Random Uncle Sean stuff:

• A new species of bird in San Antonio region?  Indeed.  While no “official” name has been assigned, it is being informally referred to as a “Grue Jay” – a cross between a male Blue Jay and a female Green Jay.  Per this University of Texas research report, the new hybrid species is unique as it “may be among the first examples of a hybrid animal that exists because of recent changing patterns in the climate. The two different parent species are separated by 7 million years of evolution, and their ranges didn’t overlap as recently as a few decades ago.”
• Say it isn’t so!!! 😭 Long-term local “watering hole” in New Braunfels is set to close….  After27 years, Faust Brewing Co. will permanently close on October 31, 2025. 🍺
• Here are the Dad / Bad Jokes 😊:
  • Every salad can be a Caesar salad if you stab it enough… 😲😅
  • I bought a new boomerang…  But how exactly do I throw the old one out? 🪃🤷‍♂️
  • It doesn’t matter what temperature the room is…  It’s always room temperature. 🙄
  • And last but certainly not least…..
    • Redneck (or FinTech Cowboy) word of the day is “Twerk.”  As in, “Imma have two more beers, then it’s back twerk.” 🤣🤠❤️

Have a GREAT weekend and please stay safe!

Uncle Sean