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Balance Growth & Optimization in Bear Markets
"Focusing on growth at all costs isn't great. You don't want to be just focused on the bottom line all the time..."
Robert Baron & Anna Lad
March 03, 2023
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Banking News
Salt Lake City Home to Black-owned Bank
The Mountain West will now be home to its first Black-owned community bank thanks to an upcoming acquisition. Redemption Holding Co.'s decision to purchase Salt Lake City-based Holladay Bank and Trust came as the number of Black-owned banks in the United States decreased by 21 since 2002. RHC will be the 17th bank owned by African Americans in the United States.
The future CEO of the bank, Ashley D. Bell, who was an entrepreneurship advisor for the White House, said:
Redemption will serve as a lifeline to the next wave of Black and Brown first-time home buyers and small business entrepreneurs across the country.
Community Bank Enters BaaS Space
Century-old First Fidelity Bank is collaborating with payment infrastructure company Episode Six to provide a platform for BaaS transactions. FFB account holders can already use Unifimoney to make investments. The system generates revenue through interest and transaction fees.
First Fidelity Bank's CIO John Symcox said:
Open banking is as much, if not more of, an opportunity for community banks than a threat.
Credit Union News
NAFCU Asserts Dislike of CC Network Legislation
Before Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) could reintroduce the Credit Card Competition Act, the National Association of Federally-Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU) decried the legislation as restrictive and anti-consumer. The bill would require merchants to access more CC networks than just Mastercard and Visa, a move that NAFCU says would help retailers but hurt credit unions' revenue.
NAFCU CEO B. Dan Berger said:
Credit unions are committed to serving their members and, as such, must be able to make a reasonable return on payment card programs in order to continue to provide important consumer financial services, such as free checking accounts and member helplines when data breaches occur.
Need for (Quick Transaction) Speed
To keep up with large banks and the mobile web, credit unions must improve transaction speeds while maintaining security. Real-time payment options such as Zelle and FedNow attract customers but present scam risks CUs need to consider. One way to prevent fraudulent transactions is to implement StandardC’s compliance solution.
Financial Services & Blockchain
Balance Growth & Optimization in Bear Markets
Even when markets are suboptimal, optimization is crucial. The recent downturn isn't something to be scared about. It forces people to "be disciplined," put plans on hold, and look for low-cost ways to improve that make the company "faster and better." James Barrese, Chime CTO, weathered the '01 and '08 recessions by monitoring "innovation and optimization."
Barrese said:
Focusing on growth at all costs isn't great. You don't want to be just focused on the bottom line all the time, either, but really building that discipline between the two is what this is about.
Immigrant-focused Neobank to Close May 1
The 3-year-old digital banking platform Passbook will be shuttered by its owner, Remitly. The closure comes as Remitly concentrates more energy on its thriving money-transfer services and expands into Dubai.
Seattle-based Remitly opened Passbook to offer online banking to its existing customer base, but adoption did not increase as quickly as hoped.
Market Movements (2.27-3.3)
