Bank Nerd Corner

In their first Bank Nerd Corner Squared episode of 2026, Kiah and Alex try their best to keep it light in the face of a lot of tough news. 2026 has been light on serious bank topics to date, but they talk about the interesting trend of fintechs buying banks, especially compared to the de novo charter applications from similar types of companies. They then hit some of the low points of the news cycle, including President Donald Trump’s proposal to cap interest rates at 10%, the grand jury subpoenas sent to the Federal Reserve Board and the announcement that the Trump family’s cryptocurrency firm, World LIberty Financial, would apply for a national trust charter. To lighten the mood, Kiah closes with a small credit card rant. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Join Jason Henrichs, CEO of Alloy Labs Alliance and a leading fintech strategist. He discusses the disconnect between banks and fintech, the hype vs. reality of stablecoins, and the critical need for AI readiness in 2026. Jason highlights how many banks invest in flashy initiatives without addressing core operational capabilities. He emphasizes the importance of distinct strategy, leveraging customer insights, and learning from peers' experiences. Tune in for insights on effectively pivoting, prioritizing, and avoiding the pitfalls of poor strategic planning.

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Matthew Goldman, the founder of credit card advisory firm Totavi. Kiah and Matthew are both what Kiah calls “maximizers” and they discuss the dozens of cards they have between them before moving onto the meat of the conversation: The Totavi 2025 recap and 2026 trends report.  Debit and credit cards are important but ubiquitous products in the financial ecosystem and in consumers’ lives. Matthew points out that many consumers interact with a card daily. This makes cards a nexus of development and innovation for both legacy banks and their nonbank competitors. Matthew shares the major themes of 2025, which include the issuance of cryptocurrency cards, the challenges of issuing credit to freelance and gig workers and how technology will alter hyperpersonalization and maybe even create super apps. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Dan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgoldman/ Read the Totavi 2025 Recap and 2026 Trend report: https://www.totavi.com/post/totavi-annual-trends-report-2025

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Michael Ohlrogge, a professor of Law at New York University’s School of Law, to talk about the realities of uninsured deposits, deposit insurance and bank failures.  Professor Ohlrogge’s paper, “Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?,” explores how usual, or unusual, it is for uninsured depositors to take losses when a bank fails.  Ohlrogge’s research found that prior to 2008, it was common for uninsured depositors to take a haircut on their uninsured funds when their institution failed. Today, when a bank fails, it’s very normal for most, if not all, of the uninsured deposits to be assumed by the acquirer.  The shift to de facto insurance coverage for all deposits coincides with a dramatic increase in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.’s costs to resolve failed banks. Professor Ohlrogge and Kiah also discuss the potential implications of his paper in light of Congress considering raising the deposit insurance coverage limit. Read “Why Have Uninsured Depositors Become De Facto Insured?” here: https://nyulawreview.org/issues/volume-100-number-2/why-have-uninsured-depositors-become-de-facto-insured/ Taktile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is an AI Decision Platform that helps financial institutions automate and improve their risk management strategies across the entire customer lifecycle. From onboarding and credit underwriting to fraud detection and transaction monitoring, Taktile empowers risk teams to build, test, and optimize their critical decision processes, without relying on engineers. Taktile has been recognized as category leader — for four quarters in a row — in G2’s Quarterly Report for Decision Management Platforms, and is trusted by leading fintechs, banks, and insurers across the globe. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Berlin and London. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ taktile.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠follow Taktile on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Professor Ohlrogge: Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-ohlrogge-70a6a76/ Twitter: https://x.com/M_Ohlrogge

In this December episode of Bank Nerd Corner Squared, Kiah and Alex bring their “end of the year” energy to recap 2025 and look ahead to 2026. They chat about the present Alex secretly hopes he receives, as well as their gift-giving approaches. For those curious: Many stores on Etsy offer photo-realistic pillows of pets and here are the Japanese bread lamps — both hit presents Kiah has gifted! 2025 has been such a wild ride for both fintechs and banks. Alex and Kiah  discuss two trends or themes that they thought were interesting or significant in 2025, before moving on to two things they think will happen in 2026. Finally, they wrap it up by discussing resolutions for the next year.  Taktile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is an AI Decision Platform that helps financial institutions automate and improve their risk management strategies across the entire customer lifecycle. From onboarding and credit underwriting to fraud detection and transaction monitoring, Taktile empowers risk teams to build, test, and optimize their critical decision processes, without relying on engineers. Taktile has been recognized as category leader — for four quarters in a row — in G2’s Quarterly Report for Decision Management Platforms, and is trusted by leading fintechs, banks, and insurers across the globe. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Berlin and London. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ taktile.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠follow Taktile on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Andrew Grant, a regulatory attorney at Runway Group, to discuss the 1978 U.S. Supreme Court case Marquette National Bank of Minneapolis v. First of Omaha Service Corp.  This seminal banking case involves national banks, interest rate exportation across states and the important question of where a loan is made. This decision and a subsequent act of Congress made interest rate exportation a mostly settled question for decades and led to an explosion of nation-wide competition for credit products, but will that be true going forward? Andrew shares how a recent court case and potential actions from state legislatures throw a new wrench into the mostly unchanged landscape of where loans are made and what that means for the interest rates they carry.   Taktile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is an AI Decision Platform that helps financial institutions automate and improve their risk management strategies across the entire customer lifecycle. From onboarding and credit underwriting to fraud detection and transaction monitoring, Taktile empowers risk teams to build, test, and optimize their critical decision processes, without relying on engineers. Taktile has been recognized as category leader — for four quarters in a row — in G2’s Quarterly Report for Decision Management Platforms, and is trusted by leading fintechs, banks, and insurers across the globe. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Berlin and London. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ taktile.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠follow Taktile on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Andrew: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-w-grant-24667315/

Bank Nerd Corner welcomes Shawn Main, chief business architect at Vantage Bank, for this episode of Banker’s Hours.  Banker’s Hours explores the personalities in banking for some real talk on important, interesting and fun topics.  Many banks in the United States are wondering about the potential implications of digital assets and stablecoins for their institutions. Not Vantage Bank. Shawn shares Vantage Bank’s journey in the digital asset space. Shawn tells Kiah how the $5 billion bank unit of VBT Financial Corp. learned about blockchains, stablecoins and smart contacts, identified partners to work with and brought regulators and customers on board. They also discuss what the future of money could look like and Vantage is forming a consortium in response.  Taktile⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is an AI Decision Platform that helps financial institutions automate and improve their risk management strategies across the entire customer lifecycle. From onboarding and credit underwriting to fraud detection and transaction monitoring, Taktile empowers risk teams to build, test, and optimize their critical decision processes, without relying on engineers. Taktile has been recognized as category leader — for four quarters in a row — in G2’s Quarterly Report for Decision Management Platforms, and is trusted by leading fintechs, banks, and insurers across the globe. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Berlin and London. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ taktile.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠follow Taktile on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Shawn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawnmain/ Read about how Vantage Bank’s worked with DX Xpress to use tokenized U.S. dollars to make cross-border payments: https://www.vantage.bank/insights/tokenized-bank-deposit-issued-by-custodia-bank-and-vantage-bank-used-for-fast-cross-border-business-payments Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett

Join Adam Mustafa, the President and CEO of Invictus Analytics, as he explores the shifting landscape of community banks amidst Federal Reserve changes. He breaks down the end of quantitative tightening and its implications for bank liquidity and deposit strategies. Discover the mechanics of how QE and QT affect stronger versus weaker banks. Adam also discusses the political dynamics influencing the Fed and offers strategic advice for banks on pricing relationships and long-term funding solutions. A must-listen for bank enthusiasts!

Kiah and Alex catch up ahead of the inaugural Fintech Takes: Builders Summit to discuss how to dress for an event that cold as well as potentially plan to play a nerdy board game that could be about banking while they’re there. They then break down the news. First up is the public (and Alex’s) confusion around the proposed skinny master account from Fed Gov. Christopher Waller, which could either be a potential national money transmitter license or is a narrow fix for a handful of unusual institutions. Kiah then recaps the sad and strange tale of the 2023 failure of Heartland Tri-State Bank, including the recent twist about who is considered a victim that needs restitution. Finally, Kiah discusses two of her favorite things: banking and travel cards. But this time, it’s not a credit card.  Taktile⁠⁠⁠ is an AI Decision Platform that helps financial institutions automate and improve their risk management strategies across the entire customer lifecycle. From onboarding and credit underwriting to fraud detection and transaction monitoring, Taktile empowers risk teams to build, test, and optimize their critical decision processes, without relying on engineers. Taktile has been recognized as category leader — for four quarters in a row — in G2’s Quarterly Report for Decision Management Platforms, and is trusted by leading fintechs, banks, and insurers across the globe. The company is headquartered in New York City and has offices in Berlin and London. For more information, visit⁠⁠⁠ taktile.com⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠follow Taktile on LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠. Fintech Takes Banking is the weekly newsletter for bank execs who get it. Subscribe for the latest in regulation, tech, financials, operations and, yes, accounting, straight to your inbox: https://fintechtakes.com/banking/newsletter-subscription/ Follow Kiah: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/khaslett/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/khaslett Follow Alex:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgfH47QEwbQmkQlz1V9rQA/videos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexhjohnson

In this engaging chat, Dan McGonegle, a senior manager at Crowe and former Federal Reserve supervisor, dives into the dynamic world of bank charters. He explains why nonbanks are eager to secure these charters for access to Fed infrastructure and payment systems. Dan discusses the competitive landscape, highlighting how new entrants leverage modern tech against traditional banks. The conversation also touches on the critical role of Fed master accounts for payment efficiency and the evolving relationship between banks and stablecoins. Tune in for insights on the future of banking!