Hoping you had a fantastic weekend, and we wish you the best as you look to ease into the week ahead. I still can’t believe the traction our X post on today’s Q&A with NBA veteran Harrison Barnes gained over a few days: 5,000+ likes and 1,100 shares, amplified by Barnes and folks like rapper and activist Chuck D and the Bleach…

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Welcome to the end of another full week at Bank Slate.

The headliner this week is one I’ve been excited to share: a Q&A with Harrison Barnes, the San Antonio Spurs forward who just became chairman of Barnes Bancorp after buying Community State Bank in Paton, Iowa. Barnes put $25 million of his own money into a bank near his hometown, assembled a board with 200+ years of Iowa banking experience, and told me why he thinks “slow growth is durable growth.”

Whether you care about basketball or not, it’s a genuinely interesting look at how someone builds conviction around community banking from the outside in — and what stability on an NBA roster taught him about owning a bank.

Beyond that, it’s been a busy week for people news — chief risk, compliance, and lending seats turned over at banks and credit unions alike, a KBW research analyst is stepping into a CFO role, and there are some fresh faces in the boardroom. All the moves are rounded up for you.

Thanks, as always, for reading and for sending me tips, corrections, and story ideas. Have a great weekend, and let’s get into it.

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Welcome back to another week of The Bank Slate.

It’s been a busy stretch on the deal front: branch sales, in-market mergers, capital raises, and even an NBA star inching closer to owning a bank. But the story that stuck with me most this week isn’t a transaction at all. It’s what’s happening to the chief risk officer seat.

Boards went from filling that role internally to hiring almost entirely from outside in the span of a quarter. It’s a sign the job itself has quietly outgrown the people promoted into it. Worth a close read if you’re thinking about your own bench.

We’ve also got a look at what’s really happening in fintech venture funding. The headline number says deal volume is down, but dig past the topline and the money hasn’t disappeared. Rather, it’s concentrated into fewer, bigger, AI-decisioning bets, with some of the biggest names in banking and asset management writing the checks.

As always, thanks for reading. If there’s a story or trend you think we should be tracking, hit reply and let us know.

Let’s get into it.

Chief risk officer hiring turned outward faster than any other role this quarter. In the second quarter, 83% of tracked CRO placements went to external candidates, up from 44% a quarter earlier. That’s a 39-point swing in three months, the sharpest single-quarter move of any role we track.

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Hoping the week has treated each of you well.

We’re almost done with Monday’s newsletter, which will feature a deep dive into our Hiring Signals report with a look at the challenges of promoting people to become chief risk officer. Basically, the job description has become so complex that it is challenging to find people in-house who can move into the role.

Let’s take a tour of the latest executive and board appointments unveiled over the past few days.

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We’re gearing up for considerable time on the road, friends. In the coming weeks, we’ll be logging a lot of airline miles.

Notably, OptimaFI’s ASCEND Insights Exchange is coming to Boston, Oct. 13–15, bringing together senior leaders from banks and credit unions for two days to discuss how to navigate credit risk, liquidity, and performance in today’s environment. Keynotes include Rodney E. Hood (former Acting Comptroller of the Currency and NCUA Chairman) and Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior U.S. economist at The Conference Board, plus roundtables, panels, and demos built for top executives.

Visit here to learn more or register.

We’re also going to be onsite at:

• FinovateFall in New York, talking about AI trends at a Sept. 11 panel discussion. As a subscriber, you can use the VIP code FKV2825SPK on the event’s booking form.

• Ole Miss Banking & Finance Symposium discussing banks’ keys for success. Here is where you can go to register.

• Banking Transformation Summit in Charlotte, N.C., where we’re a media partner. Bank Slate subscribers qualify for 20% off by visiting here and using the discount code BANKSLATEMP20

If you’re already planning to attend any of these, we’d love to meet up with you and see how the year is going and what 2027 looks like.

Please take a look at Paul Davis’ calendar to set up time to touch base.

Paul Davis was featured in a recent Forbes Finance Council roundup, “How Finance Can Build Better Cases For Strategic Investments,” alongside other finance leaders weighing in on what actually makes a capital case land.

His take: strategic investment cases get stronger when finance brings HR, IT, ops, and commercial teams in early — not just at sign-off. That collaboration surfaces blind spots, keeps ROI grounded in reality, and builds internal champions who’ll defend the plan when it counts.

What are your thoughts? Let him know at paul@thebankslate.com.

Let’s talk about national trust bank charters.

The OCC is working its way through a historic wave of national trust bank charter applications at a pace that, on the whole, seems manageable. But a closer look at the timing data and the decisions that have emerged so far offers a more useful picture for anyone with a live application or one in the planning stages.

To help understand how fluid these approvals are, we had the newsletter ready to go when the OCC on Friday gave conditional approval for a national trust bank tied to World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture backed by the Trump family. The politically charged application had been in front of the agency for more than seven months.

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Wishing everyone the best as we meander through the rest of the summer. Any last-minute plans in the works?

Monday’s newsletter is almost ready. We’re providing an update on national trust bank charter applications. We evaluate approvals, rejections, and the firms that are still waiting.

We’re also adding a new quarterly report to our roster, starting in the third quarter. Board Signals will look at trends tied to recruiting directors. Mika Moser (At C Level) is signed up as our education/training sponsor. If you’re an executive recruiter, law firm, or a compensation consultant, or work in a related field, we’d love to discuss your role in this exciting endeavor. Reach out at info@thebankslate.com to learn more.

Let’s take a look at the key executive and board moves announced over the past few days!

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How was your weekend? It was relatively quiet on our end — a necessity given all the work-related travel I have lined up over the coming weeks.

I spoke with Melinda Lucy at American Banker for her article on Darragh Buckley creating Increase Bank after buying a small Washington bank. I noted in the piece that the value in buying a bank “comes from obtaining the institutional status and control that Increase could not fully achieve by relying solely on third-party banks.” Increase, which works with fintechs such as Gusto, Pipe, Ramp, and Stripe, lists First Internet Bank and Grasshopper Bank as its bank partners.

I agreed to switch things up at FinovateFall. I will now be on a Sept. 11 panel discussing how to incorporate AI into your bank’s operating system. Theo Lau is the moderator; the other panelists are Mike Pressman at M&T Bank and Bryan Charlton at OtterAI.

Attending Finovate? Let’s catch up. Go to my calendar to set up a meeting.

Let’s talk about an overlooked issue with AI initiatives.

There’s an assumption embedded in almost every AI conversation happening in banking right now. Improvements will follow if you line up the right model, vendor, and use case.

After working with numerous community banks and credit unions, I’ve come to believe that assumption is misaligned and that AI is merely an amplifier that takes whatever exists at your institution — clarity or confusion, discipline or drift, culture or dysfunction — and turns up the volume to eleven.

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Hope you’ve had a great week. It’s always nice when a Friday rolls around and the weekend’s in sight. Enjoy it, and I’ll see you back here Monday.

Speaking of Monday, our next newsletter will dig into a topic that’s been on my mind: how AI either helps solve problems or quietly makes them worse, depending entirely on how much upfront work goes into deploying it. It’s less about the tech and more about the discipline behind the rollout.

In the meantime, today’s piece looks at a very human version of that lesson: BCB Bancorp’s CEO, veteran turnaround exec Tom O’Brien, just held his first quarterly call 60 days into the job, and he’s not sugarcoating the situation. Between a dividend suspension, an ongoing credit review of a sprawling C&I and CRE book, and a holding company debt load that’s limiting his options, O’Brien laid out a clear-eyed picture of what happens when growth outpaces understanding.

Worth a read heading into the weekend.

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After taking a few weeks off for vacation, we’re back with our weekly executive and board movers newsletter. It’s also a good time to remind that our quarterly Hiring Signals report was released earlier this week - if you missed it, take a look in your inbox. Feedback is always welcome!

Here is our overview from the past few days!

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We’ve fully adjusted to life in the U.S., both in terms of sleep schedules and not waiting until 8:30 pm or later to eat. Our European tour was enjoyable, including stops in Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Albania, Spain, and France.

I encourage everyone to find a way to spend some time outside the U.S. It gives you a broader perspective of the world that we live in.

We have several speaking engagements locked in over the coming months. I’ll join a fun AI panel at FinovateFall in New York City next month, led by the amazing Theo Lau. We’ll discuss how to leverage AI across your financial institution.

While in NYC, I’ll be looking to schedule some time to talk AI with attendees. If you’re going to be at Finovate, or simply plan to be in the city from Sept. 9-11, reach out so we can set up time to talk.

Just before I boarded a flight to Europe, I wrapped up a major project with the Delaware Bankers Association, developing its three-year strategic plan. It was a privilege to work with the association, its board, staff, and stakeholders to assess where the organization stands today, clarify where it wants to go, and build a practical path forward.

For other associations thinking seriously about their future, now’s the time to turn those conversations into a focused strategy. Please reach out if your organization could benefit from an outside perspective and a structured planning process.

Otherwise, I’m planning to attend OptimaFI’s ASCEND client summit in Boston from Oct. 13-15, and I’m organizing a panel discussion on banks’ growth strategies for the Ole Miss Banking & Finance Symposium on Nov. 6. If you’re planning to be at either of those, let me know!

Feel free to use my booking calendar to set something up.

I recently spoke to my former American Banker colleague Frank Gargano, who is now at KBRA, about the ups and downs of bank M&A. Here’s my contribution to the discussion:

Industry experts like Paul Davis, founder of financial strategy and research firm Bank Slate Consulting and a banking expert, say that while M&A activity surged following the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, deal volume has cooled since March.

“Some of that is likely due to global uncertainty, though banker optimism over lighter regulatory burden is also playing a role,” Davis said. “Add to it that pricing hasn’t hit a level that motivates the sellers who exist.”

Davis added that underlying pressures driving M&A deals, including “competition, tech investment, and succession,” have not gone away, and that the markets should “see a pickup in activity if people believe the regulatory and legislative winds in Washington will change after the midterms.”

What are your thoughts? Let me know at paul@thebankslate.com.

Let’s talk about hiring trends.

Our latest Hiring Signals report is here. Thanks again to our sponsors: BDS Yarmouth & Choate, Balch & Bingham, Engaged Banker eXperience, and new edition 40 Groups. Their support makes it possible to share our findings with our full subscriber base at no charge — give these great organizations a look if you need outside assistance!

After a 1Q that favored promotion, banks and credit unions swung decisively back to the open market in the last quarter. External hiring jumped 14 points to 58% of all filled executive roles. The shift was broadest in risk leadership (external hiring surged 39 points to 83%), and the corner office moved toward near-parity between internal and external candidates.

The Midwest and West had the sharpest regional swings, and talent mobility ticked up as six in ten out-of-market hires crossed state lines. Our 2Q data, consisting of 300+ executive appointments, suggests the boundary between “succession” and “capability” roles has blurred as institutions are increasingly willing to acquire leadership, not just specialized expertise.

Access the full report here:

Hiring Signals 2Q26: The Pendulum Swings Outward

1.91MB ∙ PDF file

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After 1Q leaned toward promotion, banks and credit unions returned to the open market. Our data suggests the boundary between "succession" and "capability" roles is blurring.

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Let’s resume our weekly look into notable banking and fintech headlines.

Notables

OCC and FDIC propose sweeping CRA overhaul. The agencies dropped a joint proposal this week to rework CRA. It’s the real deal this time — not just a reversion to the 1995 framework. The headline change is significantly higher asset thresholds. Small bank status would move from under $412 million to under $1 billion in assets; the “intermediate small bank” category becomes “intermediate bank” and covers $1 billion to $10 billion; and “large bank” status wouldn’t kick in until $10 billion (up from $1.649 billion). That’s a meaningful chunk of the industry sliding into less burdensome categories, with fewer data collection and reporting obligations along the way.

The proposal leans hard into refocusing CRA on actual lending. Retail lending exams would narrow to “major product lines” rather than forcing evaluation across mortgage, small business, small farm, and consumer lending regardless of model relevance. The service test would drop deposit services from consideration entirely, looking only at credit services. The agencies also want to crack down on what they’re calling “rent extraction.” Grants and donations must be directly used by recipients for community development purposes; big banks face a 15% cap on the indirect/administrative costs a grant recipient can absorb.

The comment period runs 60 days from Federal Register publication — worth watching closely if you’re anywhere near those new thresholds, since your exam obligations could look very different depending on where the final thresholds land.

Fed seeks comment on a plan to modernize rules for mutual banks: The Fed requested comment on a proposal to modernize rules for depositor-owned institutions, more than 90% of which have under $3 billion in assets. The move would update a framework that has been largely unchanged since 1993. Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman said the plan, which would clarify what counts as regulatory capital and remove procedural burdens, aims to help mutuals raise capital and grow while preserving a depositor-owned structure.

Huntington pledges $80B to affordable housing, small businesses and local communities: Huntington Bancshares ($284 billion in assets) unvieled a new five-year community plan shaped by talks with 350+ community groups, directing $40 billion to consumer and home lending, $22 billion to small business, and $18 billion to community development lending and investing. CEO Steve Steinour said the plan deepens a longstanding community investment that has delivered nearly 270,000 loans totaling $37.8 billion to low- and moderate-income borrowers and communities since 2021.

M&A

BoA to buy U.K. information security specialist: Bank of America agreed to buy U.K.-based information security firm M D SecMDSec Consulting, with the deal expected to close in the fourth quarter. Terms undisclosed. BofA’s CISO framed the deal as a way to strengthen cybersecurity capabilities.

Alma Bank to buy American Community Bank in New York: Alma ($1.6 billion in assets) agreed to buy American Community Bancorp in Glen Cove ($300 million) in a deal expected to close in the first quarter. Terms undisclosed. American Community CEO Anthony Capobianco will join Alma’s board and become a senior vice president.

Pioneer in New York launches college advising division after acquisition: Pioneer Bancorp ($2 billion in assets) bought The College Advisor of New York, which helps families with college search and admissions. Price wasn’t disclosed. Founder Dean Skarlis will lead a newly launched college advising division, which will give families a more holistic view as they navigate college planning.

Peoples Bancshares of TN to buy First Peoples in Tennessee: Peoples Bancshares plans to buy First Peoples in a deal expected to close late this year or in early 2027. The price wasn’t disclosed.

Arrivals | Departures

Community State Bank in Pa. tabs insider as next CEO: Community State Bank in Pennsylvania ($400 million in assets) named Nicole Wilson, its president, as its new CEO, succeeding retiring CEO Michael Bibak. Board chairman Jessica Tice praised the multi-year, planned transition and thanked Bibak for his leadership.

Century in New Mexico replaces CEO amid unsolicited takeover attempt: Century Bank ($1.4 billion in assets) named vice chairman Max Myers as interim president and CEO, replacing John Brichetto, as the bank faces a hostile takeover. Bank7 agreed to buy a 71% stake in Century for $68 million from a court-appointed receiver tied to a loan-default case.

National Bank of Indianapolis sets CEO succession calendar: National Bank of Indianapolis ($3.1 billion in assets) said Doug Talley, its chief banking officer and chief lending officer, will become president on Aug. 3 and should become CEO when Mark Bruin retires early next year.

Unison Bank in N.D. promoting market leader to become CEO in 2027: Unison Bank ($596 million in assets) named Christofer Yacoub president, positioning him to succeed retiring CEO Kelly Rachel in July 2027. The bank said Yacoub’s vision and commitment to community banking will help guide it into its next chapter; more details on the transition will be shared later.

Bangor Savings Bank in Maine taps insider as next CEO: Bangor Savings named its COO Lannie Moffatt as its next president and CEO, effective at the end of summer. Moffatt will succeed Bob Montgomery-Rice, who is retiring.

(fin)tech

Fintech Chime cutting staff by 10%: Chime plans to cut about 150 people as it looks to capitalize on AI to become more efficient and bring more teams back into offices. CEO Chris Britt said in a memo the changes are meant to give the public company the right structure to accelerate growth while maintaining operating discipline.

Increase Bank launches after Darragh Buckley buys small bank: The fintech founder officially rebranded Twin City Bancorp in Washington, positioning it as a bank built for ambitious tech companies. Buckley’s API-first core technology powers processing for companies like Gusto, Ramp, and Stripe, totaling more than $500 billion annualized.

CUSO InvestFi raises $20 million: InvestiFi raised $20 million, led by Vibe Credit Union, with participation from BankTech Ventures, Navari, and other credit unions, to scale its embedded investing platform. The CUSO has grown from four clients in 2024 to more than 60 today, letting members invest directly through their institution’s digital banking platform instead of moving money to outside providers.

OCC rejects Wise’s national trust bank application: The OCC denied U.K. fintech Wise’s application to form a U.S. national trust bank, citing significant supervisory and compliance concerns tied to state AML enforcement actions and organizers’ insufficient familiarity with federal banking law. Wise, whose U.S. arm paid $4.2 million last year under a multi-state consent order over BSA/AML deficiencies, plans to refile under a Genius Act framework.

Odds+Ends

Banc of California posts big loss after sheet moves: Banc of California ($34.3 billion in assets) reported a $251.3 million loss after selling $2.3 billion of lower-yielding securities at a $256.7 million pretax loss and agreeing to sell $827 million in CRE and multifamily construction loans. It also retired $385 million of sub debt ahead of a rate reset. CEO Jared Wolff said the moves were meant to reallocate capital toward higher-return opportunities.

Coastal in Washington reports 2Q loss, end of talks to buy Evolve assets: Coastal Financial ($5.5 billion in assets) lost $42.1 million after taking a $68.8 million credit expense tied to a single fintech partner, and disclosed it is no longer in talks to buy deposits and assets from Evolve Bank & Trust. CEO Eric Sprink said the loss reflects decisive action on one non-public partner and doesn’t signal a broader change in Coastal’s BaaS model or partner portfolio.

Summit State in Calif. posts loss as it tackles credit issues: Summit State ($960 million in assets) lost $1.3 million in the second quarter, after taking a $5.9 million loan-loss provision and significant chargeoffs after a comprehensive review of higher-risk credits. CEO Brian Reed said the bank took decisive action, including loan sales, cutting nonperforming loans roughly 44% from the prior quarter.

Blue Ridge in Va. reports loss after issues with government-backed loans: Blue Ridge ($2.3 billion in assets) lost $200,000 in the second quarter, after placing $11.4 million in loans from a single out-of-market relationship on nonaccrual. Interim CEO Harry Golliday pointed to a 4% annualized loan growth rate as a sign of progress even as NPLs rose to $31.2 million from $21 million a quarter earlier.

B2 Bank moves HQ from Minnesota to Utah: B2 Bank relocated its headquarters, positioning itself in a fast-growing fintech corridor with greater access to talent. CEO Ryan Jaskiewicz called it a defining step in the bank’s ambition to grow into a national bank serving clients coast to coast.

Hoping everyone has a little bit left in the tank as we close out the week!

Let’s discuss a new enforcement action for Lineage Bank in Tennessee.

I’ve pointed to Lineage’s 2024 consent order more than once as a template for what regulators expect — and don’t want to see — when community banks wade into BaaS. It became something of a cautionary tale: get the fintech oversight, onboarding and risk assessment wrong, and the FDIC will spell out exactly what remediation looks like.

The bank’s new consent order, issued June 24, is a different kind of document.

It’s about the fundamentals — credit administration, earnings, capital, liquidity, interest-rate risk — the blocking and tackling of running a bank, regardless of whether fintech partnerships are in the mix. If the 2024 order was a guide to managing BaaS risk, this one reads like a guide to what examiners expect from a well-run bank, full stop. And it lands just months after a $30 million recapitalization gave Lineage a fresh shot at getting there.

Let’s dig in.

Lineage Bank in Franklin, Tenn., is facing a new regulatory order that moves the conversation from its former Banking-as-a-Service ambitions to more fundamental concerns: credit quality, earnings, capital, liquidity and balance-sheet management.

The FDIC issued a consent order on June 24 requiring the $186 million-asset Lineage to develop a three-year business plan, improve profitability, reduce problem credits, strengthen underwriting, maintain elevated capital ratios and cut its reliance on brokered deposits.

Lineage agreed to the order without admitting or denying that it engaged in unsafe or unsound banking practices.

The action follows a January 2024 FDIC consent order focused largely on the management of third-party fintech programs. That order required Lineage to strengthen internal audit, overhaul fintech onboarding and risk assessment, prepare contingency plans for terminating partnerships, and obtain regulatory approval before pursuing new or expanded business lines.

Notably, the new order doesn’t indicate that the 2024 action was terminated. Rather, it suggests the bank’s challenges have broadened well beyond BaaS oversight.

FDIC Requires a Three-Year Reset

Lineage’s board has 90 days to submit a comprehensive three-year business plan covering its major business lines, staffing, markets, products, funding sources and delivery channels.

The plan must address liquidity, capital, earnings, regulatory compliance and the assumptions underpinning management’s projections. Once the FDIC reviews it, the bank must operate within those parameters and get prior regulatory approval for any material deviation, effectively placing Lineage’s strategic direction under close oversight.

The board must develop a separate profit plan and budget identifying where operating performance needs to improve, and will be required to compare actual income and expenses against projections and explain the assumptions behind them.

Credit quality and administration feature prominently in the new order.

Within 60 days, Lineage must develop a plan to address each problem-loan relationship identified in its Aug. 11, 2025, examination report. It has 90 days to produce a broader credit-administration plan.

The FDIC specifically flagged practices tied to collateral inspections, accounts-receivable lending, loans with interest reserves, collateral perfection, enforcement of borrower agreements and reporting problem credits to the board.

Management must also revise its methodology for calculating the allowance for credit losses, with bank-specific qualitative factors that are reasonable, supported and reviewed by the board as part of quarterly allowance reporting.

Elevated Capital and Funding Requirements

The FDIC ordered Lineage to maintain a Tier 1 leverage ratio of at least 10% and a total risk-based capital ratio of at least 14%.

The bank must submit a capital plan showing how it will remain above those thresholds, and it’s now barred from paying dividends or management fees without prior written FDIC consent.

Lineage must develop a plan to reduce traditional brokered deposits, with defined goals and deadlines, and set limits on the use of reciprocal deposits. This requirement stands out given that Lineage disclosed in early 2024 it was correcting prior call reports tied to brokered-deposit classification amid its BaaS-related issues.

Also, the new order directly ties Lineage’s interest-rate exposure to its earnings problems.

The bank has 90 days to prepare an interest-rate-risk mitigation plan that reassesses the assumptions behind its economic-value-of-equity modeling and identifies actions to address existing exposure and a compressed net interest margin — which the FDIC said is restricting profitability.

Quarterly progress reports will be required until the regulator determines the necessary corrections are complete.

A Fresh Recap Faces a Tougher Test

The new order lands just months after Lineage got a capital lifeline. In March, Recap Financial Ventures — a locally led investor group headed by PJ Pratt, Pamela Stephens and Wesley Finch — bought a majority interest in Lineage Financial Network after the Fed approved its BHC application. The group raised more than $30 million from local investors, including $15 million to buy preferred stock and provide an immediate capital infusion into the holding company and the bank, with the remainder earmarked for future needs.

RECAP BOOSTS LINEAGE TIER 1 CAPITAL RATIO

Pratt, a longtime financial services executive who served on the board of Franklin Synergy Bank from its founding through its 2020 sale, framed the investment as a bet on locally focused banking amid the county’s growth. The deal was structured to recapitalize Lineage and position it for long-term growth while preserving local ownership and control.

The recap followed a rough stretch for the bank. Its assets fell from $222.74 million to $163.46 million from December 2024 to December 2025 as it operated under the prior FDIC order.

THE FALL AND RISE OF LINEAGE ASSETS

The new order arrives soon enough after the recap, raising the question of how much of the fresh capital — and how much patience from the new ownership group — Lineage’s turnaround will require.

The Problems Have Evolved Since the First Order

The 2024 consent order reflected Lineage’s efforts to manage rapid expansion into BaaS — fintech partnerships involving third-party deposits, payment processing and deposit sweeps — after regulators determined the bank’s controls and staffing hadn’t kept pace.

The new action is broader in scope, addressing the basic components of running a viable bank: a credible strategy, sustainable earnings, sound credit administration, adequate reserves, stable funding, capital protection and disciplined interest-rate-risk management.

The progression suggests the consequences of Lineage’s earlier strategy are being addressed through a broader turnaround of the institution.

Lineage’s holding company has faced its own regulatory intervention. The Fed entered into a written agreement with Lineage Financial Network in late 2024 requiring the company to serve as a source of strength to the bank, strengthen its board, and get approval before paying dividends or repurchasing shares.

Bottom Line

The first FDIC order was largely about controlling risks tied to Lineage’s fintech partnerships. The second is about repairing what remains.

Lineage must show regulators it can reduce problem assets, restore profitability, stabilize funding, manage interest-rate exposure and maintain capital well above standard minimums — with its board holding far less latitude to alter strategy without prior FDIC involvement.

That work now falls to Recap Financial Ventures’ new ownership, which put more than $30 million behind the bank just months before this order landed. The new order places Lineage firmly in a regulator-directed turnaround, reflecting both the fallout from its BaaS era and the broader financial and operational pressures that followed — pressures the fresh capital was meant to address, and will now be tested against.

I’m finally back in the U.S. after nearly two months in Europe. Still adjusting to the East Coast and a normal routine, but I’m confident I’ll bounce back in due order.

My latest Forbes Finance Council piece shares a five-step system one bank used to deploy 20+ meaningful tech partnerships in a year. The big takeaway is that many bank-tech partnerships fail because banks treat signed contracts as the finish line when they're only the beginning.

Let’s talk about the risks of working with an unproven fintech.

Lauren Goodell wrote the LinkedIn post more times than she could count. Each time, she deleted it and tried again. When she finally published it, she left it all out there unvarnished. Zinnia, the AI-powered sales copilot she had built and led, was shutting down. Not sold or pivoted. Done.

She had drafted a hopeful version, where the company was sold, but scrapped it as reality set in. What she wrote instead was simpler: Zinnia launched in a pre-LLM world, but the market moved faster than it could follow.

Goodell isn’t the only founder who has heard a clock ticking. Another founder I knew shared a story of having a banker tell her, politely, during a pitch meeting that had otherwise been going well: “You won’t even be around long enough to service this deal.” He had pulled her financials, seen she lacked three years of runway against the contract she was pitching, and said the quiet part out loud. He wasn’t being cruel. He was reading the numbers and opted for blunt honesty.

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We’re slowly working our way across Spain before flying back to the U.S. at the end of the month. What an amazing time to be here — World Cup champs! So much excitement and positive energy.

We’ve been chipping away at the next Hiring Signals report in conjunction with our partners Yarmouth & Choate, Balch & Bingham, and Engaged Banker eXperience. Expect a release in early August!

Let’s talk about second-quarter capital raising.

Activity cooled from a hot first quarter, though subordinated debt issuance remained the dominant story as banks continue to work through a wave of notes issued during the low-rate years of 2020 and 2021.

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We’re now in Spain (currently in the Basque region), where we’ll spend a few weeks traversing around the country. We’re truly feeling a bit nomadic and, while incredibly freeing, it will be good to (eventually) return to a set schedule. For now, I’m embracing this go-with-the-flow lifestyle.

We did find the time to discuss FDIC de novo approvals with S&P Global Market Intelligence. Here’s the link; it’s worth the time to check it out!

I have used the semi-retreat to make progress on an idea I began scoping out a few months ago: a podcast built specifically for community bank and credit union leaders trying to cut through the AI noise. Real conversations and a working playbook.

I have mapped out a tentative episode list. As a return to the U.S. nears, it’s time to make it happen.

Each episode would have three parts: The Signal (a clear read on an AI trend hitting community institutions), The Builder (conversations with operators or founders building AI tools for banks and credit unions), and The Playbook (a concrete use case, cost and governance included, that leaders can take to the board).

I’ll have more to share soon on timing and format. In the meantime, two asks:

• Building AI tools for banks or credit unions? I want to hear from you for an upcoming Builder conversation. It’s okay if you’ve been on the Convos podcast — there is a lot to discuss about AI specifically.

• Interested in sponsoring the series? Reply to paul@thebankslate.com — I have a limited number of founding partner slots available.

More details to come. This one’s been percolating for a long time.

Today’s main article is tied to another project I’m working on. Last week, I discussed the importance of pitching to the right person. Today, I’ll cover what happens if that person takes on a new role or, worse, leaves.

Again, feedback is welcome at paul@thebankslate.com.

Let’s talk about what happens when your advocate leaves.

You’re a year into your bank partnership, but the banker who championed the deal is gone. Promoted. Moved on. Retired. Maybe you find out when an email bounces or a LinkedIn notification arrives. The replacement has a full inbox and no memory of the meetings and conversations that led to the contract.

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We’re continuing our nomadic trek across Europe. Northern Italy was a great experience — now we have found ourselves looking out over the Ionian Sea as we celebrate a family wedding! After a few more restful days, we’ll be in Corfu before hopping a short flight to Barcelona.

I’ve been working on a project recently, accumulating lessons learned from my experiences and those of the bankers and founders I have spoken with over the past few years. I’m not yet sure what the final output will be, but it has gotten me thinking about my role in helping translate for each side.

With that in mind, several upcoming newsletters will tease out snippets from this project. I would greatly appreciate your feedback as I work through my thought process in these published works.

Let’s talk about a fintech’s pitch to a bank.

Walk into a bank to pitch your fintech product, and you’ll likely end up across the table from someone genuinely excited. A product person, a frontline banker, a head of digital who found you at a conference and got you on the calendar. They nod at your demo and ask follow-up questions. They say they want to make this work.

That person cannot get the deal done.

Read more

We’re continuing our summer trek across Europe, beginning with a few days in and around Lake Como. Last week, we featured Laurie Stewart, who discussed her philosophy towards hiring and retention. Today, we’ll add more color, based on a couple of hires we witnessed in recent weeks.

Let’s talk about hiring for market entry.

Banks successfully enter new markets by recruiting the right people first.

That is the signal behind two recent expansion moves. Metropolitan Commercial Bank in New York unveiled a West Coast expansion after hiring Robert Hasler as managing director of specialty deposits. MidFirst Bank in Oklahoma announced its entry into San Francisco with a veteran Bay Area team led by former First Republic Bank executive Gaurav Kapur.

For these banks, hiring is a strategy.

Read more

I’m taking in a little R&R over the summer. As we were making our way across Europe, I noticed this interesting report from PwC on merger trends. Here is my view on the findings.

Let’s talk about bank M&A.

Bank M&A is closing faster than it has in years, and deals that once took the better part of a year to finalize are now crossing the finish line in under five months.

PwC’s midyear outlook found that deals are closing 55 days faster than they did a year ago. The median announce-to-close window now sits at 132 days, down from 187. This is a fundamentally different deal environment from what we’ve seen in previous years.

If you’re on a community bank board that has spent the last two years in “wait and see” mode, here’s the uncomfortable truth buried in data: the waiting is getting more expensive by the quarter.

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Hoping everyone’s summer is off to a great start!

We’re taking advantage of a break in conference travel to do a family trek around Europe, starting with northern Italy, before venturing to Greece, then hunkering down in Spain for several weeks.

We won’t leave you hanging, though we’ll be publishing slimmed-down versions of the newsletter in the coming weeks. You won’t see our weekly news breakdown at the end of this, but you can still access news briefs at www.thebankslate.com.

We’ll be back at it full force in early August, as we gear up for more days on the road in the United States. FinovateFall and the ABA’s Annual Convention will be right around the corner.

Our friends at Community Bank CEO 40 Group are conducting a brief industry survey to gain a better understanding of how community bank leaders are responding to one of the most pressing challenges facing the industry today: defending and growing core deposits.

The 2-minute survey has just five questions. Visit here to complete the survey and become eligible to receive a free report based on your responses.

Let’s talk about hiring and training with one of the industry’s most experienced bankers.

Laurie Stewart has led Sound Community Bank for more than 30 years. When she arrived, it was a $38 million credit union serving employees of a cooperative grocery wholesaler. Now, it’s publicly traded with more than $1 billion in assets, the product of a remarkable series of charter conversions that took Sound from credit union to mutual savings bank to thrift to full commercial bank.

Along the way, she has thought deeply about what kind of talent you need at each stage of an institution’s evolution, and what it actually takes to keep people once you’ve found them. Her answer tends to subvert conventional banking wisdom.

“You aren’t born a banker,” she told me during a recent fireside chat I conducted for 40 Groups. “We were all non-bankers when we entered this industry at some point. I started as a teller in a traditional savings and loan back when there were passbook savings accounts.”

Read more

We’re interrupting your usual programming with the details behind Peoples Bancorp’s pending purchase of Citizens National in Kentucky. It’s an interesting study in splitting consideration between cash and stock and being mindful of the potential impact divestitures can have on a deal.

Enjoy!

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We’re heading into a slightly different rhythm for the next few weeks.

I’ll be trekking across Europe with the family, which means Bank Slate will scale back coverage a bit while I trade my usual banking rabbit holes for train stations, gelato stops, and whatever adventures come with traveling with kids.

Fresh Monday content will keep flowing, but we’ll keep things short and sweet. Think fewer deep dives, more quick hits — the kind of useful, easy-to-digest updates that still help you start the week a little smarter.

We’re going to take a short break from Friday’s Arrivals | Departures newsletter while I’m away. That doesn’t mean we’re taking our eye off hiring. We’ll continue aggregating leadership moves for our quarterly Hiring Signals report, so keep sending tips and announcements our way.

In case you missed it, we had a great conversation recently with Bob Koncerak, who led a group that bought a small Georgia bank, moved it to the Atlanta area, and rebranded it as First City Bank. In our convo, he discussed raising capital from the community, his discussions with regulators, and why he still believes in the community banking model. The podcast is available for everyone to access — simply visit here. Let us know what you think!

Thanks, as always, for reading and supporting Bank Slate. Now, let’s get to it.

Let’s talk about bank-fintech partnerships.

I had the pleasure of joining a panel at Q2 Connect last week for a discussion about how financial institutions are building practical fintech partnership strategies. Joining me were two practitioners who are doing the work: Chris Hewitt, vice president of operations and digital strategy at Valley First Credit Union in California, and Janine Specht, director of digital banking at Kearny Bank in New Jersey.

What took place was a practical discussion, absent of vendor pitches and buzzwords. Just two institutions and a consultant describing their approaches to innovation and what they wish they had known earlier.

Here’s what stayed with me.

Start with the friction, not the vendor

I reiterated a message I share with clients during engagements: successful partnerships begin with diagnosis and introspection. Where is time lost? What manual work could be automated? Where are clients dropping off? That’s the real work. Once you are clear on the problem, the right partners become considerably more obvious. Skip diagnosis, and you’re just vendor shopping, and you’ll eventually strike a suboptimal partnership.

Hewitt’s response was the practical version of my argument. Valley First built a cross-functional innovation committee that drew from every department a fintech partnership would touch: retail, digital, contact center, lending, commercial, enterprise, and compliance. Before any vendor is evaluated, the committee must agree on what problem is being solved. That discussion produces a scorecard, which defines the success metrics that become the contract’s KPIs.

Sometimes the problem finds you

Specht shared a different story. When Kearny moved to a new digital banking platform, it discovered it had lost the ability to process international wires online. No one had anticipated the gap. The platform vendor identified a fintech partner already integrated into the ecosystem. Kearny did its due diligence, moved forward, and ended up with a solution more robust than what it had before.

The sequence was the same as Hewitt’s, even though the origin was more reactive. A gap appeared. The bank defined it clearly, and a solution followed. Kearny did not look for a fintech to retrofit a business case around it.

The adoption problem is where most of this falls apart

Kearny now has ten fintech solutions live. Getting there required more than due diligence and contract signatures. Specht described having to bring a cross-functional group, originally assembled for general strategic alignment, into the process. The reason was simple: you can do everything right on the contract and still fail if the sales team doesn’t know the product exists.

Internal ownership of a partnership does not end at legal and compliance. It extends to those who must use and promote what was signed. A fintech integration that marketing cannot explain and branch staff cannot demo is, as I said on stage, expensive wall art.

Hewitt made the measurement version of the same point. Weekly active users, feature utilization, task completion rates — metrics that tell you if a deployment succeeded — belong in the operating review alongside financial performance indicators. Tech does not fail at the demo; it fails at adoption and execution.

Valley First has compressed the timeline from identifying a partnership to live deployment, from 15-18 months to as few as seven weeks in some cases. The institution did not cut corners on due diligence. Rather, it built the governance infrastructure that allows due diligence to run in parallel with the business process rather than after it.

Most roadmaps do not fail because they’re wrong. They fail because they’re slow.

The playbook we walked through

The framework that I developed with Christine Golden at Q2 distills the operating system into six steps:

1. Identify the problem or opportunity: one outcome, clearly stated, whether it’s growth, efficiency, risk reduction, or experience

2. Define what success looks like before you talk to a vendor: “we need AI” isn’t a problem statement

3. Assign ownership: it’s a demo if no one owns it, and you can’t measure it

4. Pilot tightly: small scope, short timeline, clear go/no-go gates. Pilots fail if they try to prove everything at once.

5. Measure with the same rigor you apply to financial performance: adoption rates, cycle-time reduction, revenue lift.

6. Scale only after proof: operationalize via a repeatable model before expanding

The institutions that treat each launch as a template, not a one-off, are those that compound wins over time. Those who treat each launch as a standalone event start over every cycle.

I am grateful to Q2 for the invitation and to Chris and Janine for sharing real stories from their experiences. More to come from the conference circuit. In the meantime, if your institution is trying to build a repeatable partnership operating system and wants a framework to start from, reply to this email. Happy to share what we use.

Let’s talk about vendor trends at Q2 Connect.

Two themes stood out as I walked the exhibit hall.

The first involves fraud and identity. BioCatch, ThreatMark, Alloy, AppGate, Entersekt, Ciphertext Solutions, and Indentifee were all onsite. That’s a meaningful cluster that sends a message that fraud remains an urgent problem. Fraudsters are using AI to automate scams at scale, generate synthetic identities to pass traditional checks, and manipulate legitimate clients into moving their money. The vendors in this cluster are largely selling AI as the only credible response to these attacks.

The second theme is financial wellness and personal financial management, with MX, SavvyMoney, Personetics, Wealth Access, Bloom Credit, Autobooks, and Spiral having similar positioning. They each want to help your customers do more with their money. AI also surfaced as the differentiator being pitched. Personetics launched an MCP server that lets banks build agentic AI applications on top of financial intelligence models, framing product direction around “Cognitive Banking.” MX leans on AI for data enrichment and proactive insights. The PFM vendors are racing to evolve from dashboard tools into something closer to AI-driven financial coaches embedded inside the bank relationship.

This got me thinking even more about the trends discussed during our panel.

When every vendor in the exhibit hall has an AI story, how does a community bank evaluate and differentiate among them? The fraud vendors are AI-native by necessity, while the wellness vendors are AI-powered by aspiration. The language is identical across all of them.

For community banks, this creates a real problem. Vendor evaluation has always been tough, but AI adds new complexity. A bank that couldn’t previously assess the quality of a machine learning model now has to form a view on behavioral biometrics, synthetic identity detection, agentic AI frameworks, and LLM integrations, while managing a core conversion, a regulatory exam cycle, and a loan portfolio that needs attention. Sales decks are sophisticated and the necessary due diligence is more demanding. It’s a heavy lift to say the least.

The concentration of AI-powered vendors in fraud and financial wellness reflects where bank technology investment is flowing and where VC has been placing its bets. For community banks, the challenge involves figuring out which companies actually deliver versus those that are just giving AI shine to a legacy product.

Let’s talk briefly about Bilt.

Bilt Rewards is under scrutiny from federal regulators and Congress after a rocky transition away from Wells Fargo created payment processing problems for cardholders earlier this year.

What happened: Bilt’s partnership with Wells ended earlier than expected, prompting the company to roll out new cards in February through Cardless, backed by Column Bank. Shortly after, customers reported delayed rent payments, erroneous charges, and difficulty reaching customer service.

The regulatory response: The CFPB said it engaged directly with Bilt rather than opening a formal investigation, consistent with the bureau’s current enforcement principles. The bureau framed this as a deliberate departure from the Biden-era playbook under Rohit Chopra. Bilt is expected to reimburse fees for more than 500 newly identified customers as a result of the outreach.

The political dimension: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has separately pressed Bilt for answers on what caused the transition failures, adding congressional oversight to an already complicated situation.

Why it matters for community banks and fintechs: The Bilt situation is a live case study in bank-fintech partnership risk — specifically what happens when a transition is rushed or poorly executed. The CFPB’s collaborative approach is notable and worth watching as a signal of how the bureau intends to handle fintech-adjacent consumer issues.

The Big Headline

Fifth Third Bank will close 75 branches in Michigan this summer, including 55 former Comerica locations. The move cut the number of branches in the state by 25%. Most of the branches are within a mile of a another Fifth Third location.

M&A

• First National of Nebraska in Omaha agreed to buy Blue Ridge Bancshares in Missouri for an undisclosed sum in a deal expected to close by the end of this year.

• Bogota Financial in New Jersey agreed to buy GSL Savings Bank in New Jersey for undisclosed terms in a deal expected to close in the second half of 2026.

• NSTS Bancorp in Illinois divested its mortgage business to comply with the terms of its pending sale to Brookfield Bancshares in Illinois.

• First Federal Bank in Florida agreed to sell its third-party mortgage origination division to Mortgage Forward, a CUSO tied to Great Lakes Credit Union. The price wasn’t disclosed. The sale should close in the third quarter.

• Kraken co-founder Arjun Sethi has offered to buy the troubled Summit National Bank in Wyoming after other sales efforts failed to close. Sethi has offered to buy the bank for $5.5 million, including a $750,000 nonrefundable deposit that could provide immediate capital to the bank.

Arrivals | Departures

• Tom O’Brien agreed to become president and CEO of BCB Bancorp in New Jersey. The veteran turnaround artist was hired just weeks after BCB parted ways with Michael Shriner.

• FS Bancorp in Washington said that Matthew Mullet had become its CEO. Mullet, who remains president, succeeded Joe Adams, who retired but remains on the board.

• Orrstown Financial in Pennsylvania said that Adam Metz has become its president and CEO and joined the board. Metz, who was COO, succeeded Thomas Quinn Jr., who retired.

• Security Federal in South Carolina said that J. Chris Verenes will retire as CEO on July 10. Philip Wahl II, the company’s president, will succeed Verenes.

(fin)tech

• Ramp raised $750 million in a fundraising round that included 70,000+ customers, ICONIQ, GIC, Ontario Teachers’​ Pension Plan, and several new investors.

• CCBank in Utah created Quill Bank, a bank division designed to offer services to fintechs.

Odds+Ends

• A group in Puerto Rico applied to form Dorado Bank. A separate group that includes Howard Levine, former chief consumer banking officer at Amerant Bank, has been linked to an effort to form Glades Bank & Trust in Florida.

• A group of investors tied to Security Bank & Trust in Minnesota, including its CEO and president, bought a 6.3% stake in Citizens Community Bancorp in Wisconsin.

• FirstSun Capital Bancorp in Denver sold a $890 million portfolio of multifamily loans it inherited from its purchase of First Foundation to Brookfield Asset Management. The pricing wasn’t disclosed.