Banking

The most widely covered story across newsletters was Chime's acquisition of Stride Bank. American Banker Fintech, Fintech Futures, Banking Dive Newsletter, Payments Wrap Up, and Linas's Newsletter all reported on the $590 million all-cash deal, with American Banker Fintech noting Stride was a longtime partner of Chime, Payments Wrap Up noting that shares jumped on the news, and Linas's Newsletter adding that Chime promised not to grow the bank.

Bank charters were another recurring theme. Banking Dive Newsletter and Stack and Story covered Block's pursuit of an OCC bank charter, with Stack and Story noting that Block's charter skips deposits and loans. American Banker Fintech reported that a new on-chain bank received conditional OCC approval, while Fintech Futures covered OpenReserve securing conditional approval for a US national bank charter along with $25 million in seed financing. Linas's Newsletter reported that Revolut won the US bank charter that Wise could not.

Several newsletters covered bank leadership changes and M&A activity. Fintech Futures reported that Vanquis CEO Ian McLaughlin will step down, and separately covered the $3.9 billion merger agreement between EverBank and WaFd Bank. American Banker Fintech covered a range of banking developments, including Huntington's new president, activist investors seeking board seats at an Alabama bank, First Citizens deepening its presence in the Midwest and Great Plains, and a Maine bank pursuing branch makeovers to attract deposits.

Additional topics touched on emerging bank technology and other fintech news. Fintech Futures covered Georgie & Cog's "agentic bank," Sagehaven's digital-centric bank tapping Nymbus for core banking technology, and KB Kookmin Bank partnering with JP Morgan on blockchain corporate trade payments. American Banker Fintech covered tokenizing assets and new opportunities for banks. Linas's Newsletter also touched on Meta's acquisition of the other half