The Banker Next Door

Back-to-back court room losses have social media companies scrambling!

Two monumental cases were brought against social media companies including Meta, Google, TikTok, and Snapchat. TikTok and Snapchat were only involved in the Los Angeles case; they decided to settle out of court before that trial began. The trial in New Mexico accused Meta of tailoring its platforms to prioritize user engagement, promoting and profiting from illegal content that allowed for the exploitation of children and teens. The Trial in Los Angles, CA alleged that Instagram (Meta) and YouTube (Google) have intentionally designed their platforms to addict and harm minors. These trials are important because they are attacking these social media companies from different angles. Instead of going after free speech or content, they are going after child protections and system designs. After much testimony in both trials from Mark Zuckerburg, medical experts, technical experts, internal documents, emails, and message chains, both juries found the defendants guilty. The New Mexico trial ended with the jury ruling that Meta had violated the states consumer protection law and imposing a $375 million dollar fine. The Los Angeles trial ended with the jury finding Meta and Google liable for $6 million in damages. While the New Mexico trial had the larger punitive damages, the Los Angeles trial will probably prove far more significant over time. After these trials, there is now a ‘flood’ of litigation lining up against the social media giants. This could prove to be the beginning of significant changes in social media. This episode examined multiple articles from The Epoch Times, The Wall Street Journal, and CNBC.
 P.S. Please check out the documentary on Netflix called The Social Dilemma (released in 2020).

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - Private Credit: Redemption lockout!

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 28, 2026. The zero loss-fallacy has evaporated for the Private Credit Market. Now major players such as Apollo, KKR, UBS, and BlackRock are locking down their funds and halting redemption requests. The Private Credit Market is experiencing a decrease in inflowing funds, an increase in redemptions, and an increase in delinquency. This analysis explores investors’ skepticism about Blue Owl’s loan sale, possible sale for Jefferies, how banks are playing both sides of the Private Credit Market, how the state of Iowa has a life insurance problem, how banks could end up lending more to this market depending on what happens with capital reform, Moody’s downgrades KKR fund to junk, and finally we look at what is happen in Europe.

De Novo's, bank charters, and your bank's strategy

In this episode we examine the challenges of starting a De Novo Bank, the surge in bank charters and what type of companies are applying for them, and should a bank consider changing its charter to fit its future strategy. A De Novo Bank must raise a significant amount of money to get started. They must also consider market fit, capital and investor base, strategic differentiation, and execution capacity. What type of companies are applying for bank charters? Large corporations / auto companies (Ford & GM), fintech and payment platforms (PayPal & Revolut), digital assets and crypto firms (World Liberty Financial & Kraken), and niche digital banks (Erebor). With this changing landscape should your bank consider changing its existing charter? What if you plan to grow significantly through M&A or expansion into new markets? What if you want to change regulators? This episode examined two blog posts from PCBB and an article from Bank Director. Links to the two blog posts and the article are included below.
Link: Nonbank Charter Applications Are Surging — What You Need To Know
Link: New Community Banks: When De Novo Formation Makes Sense
Link: Does Your Bank's Charter Align With Its Strategy? | Bank Director

Interview with bank consultant Rich Carty

Rich Carty is a bank consultant with Remedy Consulting. Rich seeks to educate potential clients on the strategic and financial impact that Remedy creates. Remedy consulting specializes in technology contract negotiation, system assessment, strategic planning, and M&A support. Rich and I discuss Remedy consulting, the technology that community banks should be focusing on and the strategies that community banks should be thinking about in 2026. We discuss Rich’s 20 years in financial services. Finally, we discuss Remedy’s podcast, which is called BankTalk podcast. Links to websites for both Remedy Consulting and BankTalk podcast are included below.
Link: https://www.remedyconsult.net/
Link:  https://banktalkpodcast.com/

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - SpaceX prepares for the largest IPO in history!

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 28, 2026. SpaceX is preparing for the largest IPO in the history of Wall Street! The IPO is scheduled to take place in June of this year. The expectation is that the IPO will raise over $1 trillion dollars. However, before that happens, Elon is completing the process of rolling X into xAI, then xAI into SpaceX. Why would Elon roll up X and xAI into SpaceX? What is the strategy there? Does he want to diversify the revenue stream of SpaceX? Why would that be important? In addition to the IPO news, Tesla and SpaceX announced they are going to build a semiconductor fabrication facility in Austin Texas. Construction of this facility will begin soon. All of this is happening while Elon is transforming Tesla from an electric vehicle company into a robotics and AI company. To say all of this is a ‘herculean’ task would be an understatement.

BND: Strategy Room 3-28-2026

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.

Why should you study economics?

Why should you study economics? Some things to consider, where does wealth come from? How does it grow? Why do economies go up and down? Is inflation really ‘transitory’? Why have tariffs not caused inflation? If the unemployment rate is under 5%, is that good or bad? Economics drives are understanding of the world around us. For business people and bankers, many of the decisions they make daily are derived based on what economic data is telling them. Having even a rudimentary understanding of economics can change the way you look at and interpret the world. If you want to begin studying economics, where is a good place to start? Reviewing economic indicators monthly, watching CNBC, and reading The Wall Street Journal is a great way to get started. This episode reviews an article from The Epoch Times (subscription required) titled “What’s the point of economics as a discipline?”  

What is the difference between a Tokenized Deposit and Stablecoin?

What is the difference between a tokenized deposit and stablecoin? Tokenized deposits are issued by a bank, denominated in fiat, backed 1:1 by funds on the bank’s balance sheet, and accessible only to customers who have completed standard KYC onboarding. Tokenized deposits operate on a permissioned network where participation is controlled and restricted to known parties. Stablecoin are digital tokens pegged to a currency and issued by a non-bank entity. Stablecoins like USDC or USDT are backed by reserves such as Treasury bills or cash equivalents. These reserves do not sit on the bank’s balance sheet. They are not treated as insured deposits. Stablecoins operate on a public blockchain network accessible to anyone with a digital wallet. What are major differences for bankers to understand? Two instruments, two different structures, each functions differently in practice, and each has regulatory differences.  This episode reviews a blog post from PCBB titled “Tokenized Deposits Vs. Stablecoins: Know the difference.” A link to the blog post is included below.  
Link: Tokenized Deposits Vs. Stablecoins: Know the Difference

How is small business lending being affected by regulatory changes?

How are banks currently being affected by regulatory changes that have taken hold in the last few years? We focus on three specific items 1) SBA lending, 2) CFPB 1071 rule, and 3) FinCen beneficial ownership information (BOI). The SBA has made multiple changes returning to a more pre-pandemic and pre-Biden administration stance. The 1071 rule requirements being enacted by the CFPB will kick in for big banks in July 2026 and in 2027 for smaller banks. 1071 will add a higher regulatory burden on small business lending and will add further complexities to the lending process. Banks continue to comply with FinCen on BOI collection. This is something banks have been dealing with for years now. Due to these regulatory changes, the burden on banks continues to increase. The complexity and cost for small business borrowers will continue to increase.  This episode reviewed an article from Bank Director titled “The regulatory changes shaping small business lending right now.” A link to the article is included below.
Link: The Regulatory Changes Shaping Small Business Lending Right Now | Bank Director

BND: Strategy Room Bonus - Prediction Markets going wrong!

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on March 21, 2026. The state of Arizona has filed criminal charges against Kalshi. Arizona is claiming that the Prediction Markets company is operating an illegal gambling business without a license. Businesses are now becoming highly concerned that insider trading is happening on Prediction Market platforms as the market is projected to grow to over $325 billion in 2026. Kalshi secures a market valuation of $22 billion. Amazingly, despite an ongoing gambling scandal, Major League Baseball reached a licensing agreement with Polymarket. Finally, Americans are going all in on online gambling!