While valuation at many fintechs has dropped since 2022, Chime has bucked the trend. Is it ready for an IPO? Bloomberg recently reported that Chime, the leading fintech neobank, is planning to go public in 2025. According to the report, Chime has not engaged investment banks to date. The unnamed source is a “person familiar with the matter,” and a representative for the company declined to comment. Chime hasn’t raised funds since 2021 when it was valued at around $25 billion. The neobank has not reported on the number of customers it has for the past few years. Chime Has More Than 38 Mill ..read more

Banks and credit unions won’t find a perfect digital vendor. What they can find is the right partner to fulfill their strategic needs.  2024 will prove to be a remarkably busy year in the digital space, when many financial institutions will make near-life-or-death choices about the future of their digital platforms and how they will support them. While the mobile banking revolution has been going on for more than 15 years, most bank and credit union executives report that they are still only partially through their digital transformation. In fact, according to Cornerstone’s What’s Going O ..read more

Small business owners face a credit crisis—and the problem is even worse for minorities. There is a solution—and it doesn’t require regulatory changes. The Small Business Credit Crisis If you search online for “small business challenges,” the list that Google returns is nearly endless. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce boils the list down to the top 5 of which #2 is “access to credit.” Of small business owners who applied for a business loan in early 2023, 6 in 10 found it difficult to find affordable financing, and overall, 77% are concerned about their access to capital according to a survey ..read more

Dear bank and credit union software vendors, Mea culpa. Years ago, when I was a chief product officer involved in helping my company’s sales team conduct demonstrations with prospects, I made many of the mistakes I am ranting about here. At Cornerstone Advisors, I’m now on the other side of the table. I watch two or three software demonstrations each week and it kills me to see so many basic mistakes being made. I offer up this feedback with good intentions so we can all improve how we demonstrate our products to prospects and customers. Do your homework—My number one piece of advice is to sp ..read more

It happened this week: Fintech Meetup, one of the newer trade events that brought 4,000 or so fintech and banker types to Las Vegas.  The striking thing about the conference was not the magician hired to walk around the booths during Monday’s reception or the illustrator seated right next to a sign created by artificial intelligence on Sunday’s welcome gathering, it was the event’s meeting pit: a section in the exhibit hall that was dedicated to taking short meetings that the mobile app assigned you to ahead of the conference. The experience felt akin to entering a mosh pit but inste ..read more

While growth and scale are helpful, bank leaders need to dive deeper into enterprise performance data to uncover the smart efficiency opportunities. Well folks, they’re back—the cries from the rooftops, in the media and at conferences that “Scale Matters” in our consolidating and technically transforming banking industry. A recent round of bank merger announcements and the marquee Capital One/Discover deal illustrate this mantra’s popularity. It appears nothing else matters but the urgency to get big and get there fast. It’s very hard for regulated banks and credit unions to gain any meaningfu ..read more

The right talent and tools can equip bankers to take advantage of opportunities in the small business market. As bankers continue to fight the deposit wars, they must move past the polite talk and build a true go-to-market plan to capture the lucrative U.S. small business market—a segment of 32 million small-to-medium businesses (small businesses) with less than $10 million in annual revenue with funding needs of loans between $5,000 and $1,500,000. Currently, these businesses are finding funding sources such as Small Business Administration loans, equipment financing loans, or other lines of ..read more

“The most powerful weapon in chess is to have the next move.” -David Bronstein, chess world finalist Facing off with a vendor to negotiate a multi-year contract is much like a game of chess. Move after move, decisions are made based on information available at the time. Contract negotiations typically have two players, each applying their strategy to obtain desired terms, conditions and pricing. Neither party is ever completely certain of their opponent’s next decision, but both are likely experienced enough to predict potential moves. Game theory is an economics framework that provides decisi ..read more

Turn up “Whole Lotta Love” and let the pure adrenalin rush of Jimmy Page’s intro accompany this year’s Acquire or Be Acquired recap … In the ever-evolving world of banking, Bank Director’s Acquire or Be Acquired Conference remains a constant. Early this week, the conference was the epicenter of discussions, where 2,000 attendees descended upon Arizona to strategize and set the tone for our great industry’s future. As we step into February, banking leaders continue to navigate a complex daily ritual … performing to stay relevant while searching for areas to evolve to remain competitive. From th ..read more

Having complained in a recent post on LinkedIn that a lot of the predictions I see are nonsense, you may think I’m crazy for posting my own set of predictions for 2024. You’re probably right. That said, here are my banking and fintech predictions for 2024: 1. A big(ger) bank will acquire a BaaS bank. A sneak peek into Cornerstone Advisors’ forthcoming What’s Going On In Banking study shows that the percentage of banks looking to get into the banking as a service (BaaS) space is down from previous years. Big surprise, eh? Regulatory headwinds, iffy economic conditions and a more conservative ap ..read more