Advisory Insights: April Edition

The Storyline

SmartBiz Loans (formerly BillFloat) acquired United Community Bancshares, indirectly taking ownership of Illinois-based Centrust Bank. The acquisition, which closed in March after receiving approvals from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the OCC in February, represents the first fintech-to-bank conversion during the current administration and indicates a more favorable regulatory environment for fintechs pursuing banking charters. This follows the FDIC board’s approval of a proposal to roll back increased scrutiny on large bank mergers, reinstating guidelines that were in effect prior to 2024.

States continue to establish industry-friendly frameworks for Earned Wage Access (EWA) services, with both Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Utah Governor Spencer Cox signing legislation in March that defines EWA as a non-credit product, requires provider registration, mandates fee disclosures, and necessitates at least one free service option. These developments continue the trend established in Nevada, Missouri, Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Kansas, creating regulatory clarity that avoids subjecting EWA providers to lending laws while still providing consumer protections.

April’s dealmaking showcases vertical integration moves across fintech, real estate, and crypto. Bilt Rewards acquired Banyan to transform neighborhood commerce through item-level intelligence, while American Express expanded its expense management capabilities by acquiring Center. Rocket Companies announced major acquisitions in an expansion strategy: a $1.75 billion all-stock transaction for Redfin, and a $9.4 billion all-stock deal for Mr. Cooper Group Inc., creating a mortgage giant that will handle one in every six mortgages in the United States. U.K. challenger business bank OakNorth agreed to acquire Michigan-based Community Unity Bank (CUB), “providing a solid foundation for OakNorth’s continued expansion across the U.S.” The digital asset space saw consolidation as Kraken agreed to a $1.5 billion deal to acquire NinjaTrader, a retail futures trading platform, diversifying its offerings beyond crypto. Meanwhile, Coinbase entered advanced talks to acquire derivatives exchange Deribit in a deal valued between $4 billion and $5 billion, potentially strengthening its position in the growing crypto derivatives market.

Investors doubled down on market leaders as Mercury and Ramp commanded premium valuations. Mercury announced a $300 million Series C round at a $3.5 billion valuation. Ramp’s valuation climbed to $13 billion following a $150 million secondary share sale. Klarna is looking to raise $1 billion at a $15 billion valuation in its upcoming IPO. Flex, positioning itself as “Brex for business owners,” raised $25 million at a $250 million valuation. Synctera raised $15 million and signed Bolt, its largest customer to date, while LiquidTrust secured $4 million to address key risks in the $14 trillion SMB payments market with its Micro Escrow Pay solution.

From tentative testing to groundbreaking implementation: stablecoins reach a milestone with the first bank tokenization. Utila secured $18 million in Series A funding to power institutional digital asset operations, while MoonPay acquired Iron in a deal estimated to be worth over $100 million—its second major Solana-focused acquisition this year. Fidelity revealed it is testing a stablecoin but has no immediate product launch plans. In a noteworthy development for bank-issued digital assets, Custodia Bank and Vantage Bank collaborated to complete America’s first-ever tokenization of a bank’s US dollar demand deposits.

Big-box retail emerges as the new battleground for BNPL and embedded finance partnerships. Affirm expanded its pay-later offering through a new agreement with J.P. Morgan Payments, making its BNPL solutions available to merchants on J.P. Morgan’s network. Klarna became Walmart OnePay’s exclusive BNPL partner and separately partnered with DoorDash to offer flexible payment options to U.S. customers. JPMorgan Chase and Walmart reportedly partnered on an embedded finance solution for marketplace sellers. Treasury Prime added KeyBank to its bank network, and Taktile teamed up with Prior Labs to integrate TabPFN. Green Dot and Marqeta joined forces to enhance cash services for businesses and their customers, while Moov Financial and SouthState Bank enabled real-time push and pull to debit. Feedzai partnered with Highnote to support the launch of Highnote’s new acquiring business line, providing real-time fraud detection and merchant monitoring capabilities while streamlining Highnote’s vendor footprint.

Network Spotlight

We sat down with Pradeep Goel, CEO of Solve.Care, a blockchain-based healthcare platform. He discussed the potential of blockchain to transform the patient–provider relationship and create efficiencies in health payments and care coordination. Goel highlighted Solve.Care’s work in building decentralized care networks that connect patients, providers, employers, insurers, and government agencies in a secure and transparent way. He also reflected on the challenges of introducing blockchain technology into a complex, highly regulated industry and emphasized the importance of building trust through transparency and patient-centric design.

Product Launches

• PayPal launched a buy now, pay later savings program allowing customers to earn interest on installment payments.
• Chime introduced “Credit Builder Plus” offering cash advances and higher spending limits.
• Affirm rolled out a subscription payments product enabling merchants to offer recurring BNPL options.
• Revolut launched a family account product in Europe with parental controls and allowances.
• SoFi announced a student loan refinancing marketplace integrating multiple lenders.
• Cash App launched investment circles to allow users to pool funds for group investments.
• Robinhood unveiled a retirement match program where the company matches a portion of customer contributions.
• Brex rolled out automated accounts payable tools to simplify vendor management.
• Monzo introduced a small business cash advance product in the UK.
• Coinbase launched a self-custody wallet for institutions.

FS Vector Calendar

• August 8 – Fintech Happy Hour, Washington, DC
• August 12–13 – Fintech South, Atlanta, GA
• August 20 – DC Fintech Week Kickoff, Washington, DC
• September 5–7 – Money 20/20 Asia, Bangkok, Thailand
• September 23–24 – RegTech Summit, New York, NY
• October 7–9 – DC Fintech Week, Washington, DC