The Banker Next Door

Bank News: Chime to buy Stride for $590 million. Chime outgrew their partner model. Will the Chime deal lead to further fintech-bank competition? EverBank to purchase WaFd in a reverse merger for an approximate cost of $3.9 billion. Does this merger have execution risk? John Marshall Bancorp to purchase in-state peer Eagle Financial Services for $253 million. Finward Bancorp considered 7 different merger partners before accepting First Financial bid. Circle buying Tazapay for approximately $400 million. Bank7 wins auction to purchase 71% of Century Financial. Trustmark bank sells 34 branches to Blue Owl Real Estate Capital in sale-leaseback deal valued at $91.7 million. The founders of Georgia Skyline Bank, a new De Novo in Georgia, have decided to recapitalize Highland Community Bank in Virginia as a faster path to growth and profitability. Mercury received conditional approval for deposit insurance from the FDIC. Block has applied for a National Trust Bank charter through the OCC. United Bancorporation of Alabama is fighting back against activist investors. The Federal Reserve and Governor Bowman are sued by Better Markets over capital-requirements process. GAO report on banks support or nonsupport of cannabis industry. Banks fear of missing out is fueling their AI spending. This episode reviewed multiple articles from Banking Dive and S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required)

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on September 5, 2026. Bond market yields are not just increasing in the U.S. they are increasing all over the western world. France, Italy, UK, and Japan have all seen increasing 10-year treasury yields. The growing global debt of $350 trillion is getting very expensive to service. Inflation, the war with Iran, $40 trillion in national debt, and a new Fed chairman are all weighing on the U.S. bond market. This leads to several questions. Will the U.S. require a weaker market (i.e. recession) to achieve lower yields? Have we entered a new era of higher interest rates? What do higher rates mean for the government, corporations, and consumers? Everything becomes more expensive to finance. For consumers it exacerbates the issue of affordability. In addition, what do higher rates mean to bank investment portfolios? Right now, they continue to put pressure on AOCI by increasing negative returns. This episode reviewed articles from The Wall Street Journal, The Epoch Times, S&P Global, and CNBC.  

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.

This episode reviewed recent data for bank IPO’s and capital raises, M&A activity, new charter requests, FDIC problem bank list, recent bank failures, the return of shareholder activism, and the impact of rising yields on accumulated other comprehensive income or AOCI. Capital raises through preferred equity (IPOs) picked up in the second quarter of 2026, but subordinated debt and senior debt are still the preferred vehicles. Bank charter applications hit 33. M&A activity has picked up with 98 deals so far in 2026. The number of banks on the FDIC’s problem list dropped to 47. The number of bank failures in 2026 increased to 5. Rising yields put pressure on AOCI causing the banking industry total to decrease to negative $156 billion. The easing regulatory environment coupled with the increase to M&A is bringing a new wave of shareholder activism to U.S. banks. This episode reviewed multiple articles from S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required).

Bank CEO compensation for the big 4 CEOs dramatically increased in 2025. Citigroup CEO, Jane Fraser, became the highest paid bank CEO with a pay package of $95.8 million. Wells Fargo CEO, Charles Scharf, came in right behind with a pay package of $94.5 million. JPMorgan CEO, Jamie Dimon’s, pay package was $40.6 million. Bank of America CEO, Brian Moynihan’s, pay package was $32.7 million. The lists reviewed include top 10 highest paid bank CEOs, 10 highest paid bank CEOs with assets between $1B and $10B, 10 highest paid CEOs with assets between $10B and $50B, 10 highest paid bank CEOs with assets between $50B and $500B, 10 highest paid CEOs with assets under $1B. Also examined is CEO pay ratios versus median employee salaries and the overall rise in CEO bonuses. This episode reviewed two articles from S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required) and an article from Bank Director titled “What’s behind the rise in CEO bonuses?” A link to the Bank Director article is included below.
Link: What’s Behind the Rise in CEO Bonuses? | Bank Director

Bank News: BitGo acquired NYDIG’s trading business. Equity Bancshares to acquire Lincoln Savings Bank for $123.8 million. FNBO to acquire InBankshares Corp for an amount up to $204 million. Bank7 wins auction to purchase 71% of Century Financial. TabaPay is seeking to attain a bank charter by purchasing Transact Bank. UK neobank Revolut receives conditional bank charter from the OCC. Zerohash reapplies for OCC trust bank charter. OpenReserve received conditional approval for a national bank charter from the OCC. Old Glory Bank revisits capital raise and IPO after SPAC deal fails. Farmers & Merchants Bank incurs $85 million loss to reposition securities portfolio. Judge blocks SVB ex-parent from getting $1.7 billion from the FDIC. U.S. bank seeking to expand business roster. GAO believes holding company rules should be reviewed. Citizens focusing on private-bank customers. Republicans introduce a bill to change the CFPB funding structure. 21 banks partner up on stablecoin project. Banks maybe favoring tokenized deposits over stablecoin. New clarifications on SARs for banks. TD Bank is seeking to open 100 new branches. This episode reviewed multiple articles from Banking dive and S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required).

This episode reviewed S&P Global’s list of top U.S. large and community banks by deposit franchise. The top 3 large U.S. banks by deposit franchise were 1) EB Acquisition Co. LLC, 2) CVB Financial Corp., and 3) Prosperity Bancshares, Inc. The top 3 U.S. community banks by deposit franchise were 1) Central Service Corp., 2) Bank of Marin Bancorp, and 3) Bank of Guam. The most recent trend for both large and community size banks is the need to engage in M&A for deposit growth. “Acquirers are leveraging dealmaking to capture market share and protect margins, avoiding the higher costs associated with competing for deposits through promotional rates.” This episode reviewed two research articles from S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required).

What does BND offer compared to all the other financial influencers on TikTok? The Wall Street Journal analyzed hundreds of finance influencers on TikTok and was able to break them down into several categories. These include the educator, the young guns, the stock hypers, and the showoffs. Most of these influencers are pedaling stocks, get rich quick schemes, flashy videos to get clicks, or just nonsense. BND is not doing any of this. BND brings you deep knowledge of the world of finance, specifically around banking. BND offers current news and insights in addition to historical analysis on financial innovations and key events that have shaped the economy. Interviews with top experts. Reviews of relevant business books, movies, and documentaries. All done through the lens of education. No sales, no gimmicks, just a better understanding of the financial world, so that we all can lead more successful financial lives! This episode reviewed an article from The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) titled “A breakdown of the financial advice that’s flying all over TikTok.”

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on August 29, 2026. Mark Walter’s TWG investigation continues to cause ripples through the Private Credit and insurance ecosystem. Mark Walter’s problems are not a ‘one off’ incident. Rather, he used a strategy that is being deployed by many across the Private Credit and Insurance industries. The web of interconnection between Private Credit, Private Equity, and Insurance is a little unnerving. Mr. Walter’s problems are just beginning, as are the additional problems that are likely to be uncovered with various other companies. This video reviewed articles from CNBC and The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

The Banker Next Door (BND) weekly live stream show. Strategy Room provides financial news, commentary, top stories in the business world, economic indicators, and all things banking for the week.