Wildfires and fintech | The new Venmo | 2025 report drop: What’s Going On in Banking

Hi there:

It’s been a hard month with glimmers of brighter moments, like seeing dolphins on my birthday.

In fintech, here’s what I followed:

• California wildfires: Matthew Goldman , a serial fintech founder and Pasadena resident, talked to me about what banks and the fintech community can do to support the Los Angeles community in the latest Money isn’t Everything episode.?As he says on the show:

“Proactively do stuff. Don’t make people apply. You know where these people live. Like that’s a thing that banks have. You know where people are. If they are in a zip code, whether their house is destroyed or not, just waive their monthly fee or realize maybe they aren't going to get that direct deposit because the job stopped. Make it as easy as possible for them to just get that benefit because it’s probably not really that expensive and it will probably develop a deeper relationship and serve that community.”

We also unpack how (and why) open banking won’t just lead to people ditching their banks and we explore “the date test” in choosing debit and credit card design.

• The corn debit card: Cards are on my mind, so I kicked off the new season of Money isn’t Everything with Eric Carter, SVP of Digital Solutions and Innovation officer at Bank of New Hampshire, about why the bank spends a bit more to issue corn cards (and has since 2022).?

What does this mean?: Sure, we are using our phones to pay for things but we’re also still swiping all kinds of plastic. It’s a smart move by the community bank to help reduce plastic waste by issuing corn cards. Consider this shocking stat from Eric: It takes 400+ years for a plastic card to biodegrade. Catch the full episode here.

• The 2025 What’s Going On in Banking report by Ron Shevlin is here!: Expect all kinds of juicy data in Ron’s report, but one thing especially popping out to me: The divide in how banks and credit unions think about growth through fintech partners. Per the WGOIB report:

1. The percentage of banks that view fintech partnerships as growth drivers has declined in the last two years. In the 2025 report, 16% of bank respondents said fintech partnerships were a strong growth driver, which is down from 21% in 2024, and 29% in 2023.
2. Credit unions, meanwhile, are moving in the opposite direction. In 2025, the report found 32% of credit union respondents said fintech partnerships were a strong growth driver, up from 26% in 2024 and 28% in 2023.

* Download the report: https://lnkd.in/eMkrXd5C (the above stats are on page 44)

**Register for the February 19 webinar: https://shorturl.at/SX9PB

*** Review some more highlights from Ron himself here.

Other things that happened this month:

?? Mystery box of intriguing links, articles and other stuff that may interest you as it did me.

• Read my written Q&A with Kelly Brown here. We explore big deposits in a post Synapse crisis world. As she said: "For me on the consumer side, I’m all about protecting people and giving more information than less, especially when it comes to people’s deposits."
• Is Starbucks the new Venmo app for Gen Z? This article says so.
• Catch me (and Ron Shevlin) on Breaking Banks to recap the year that was and to provide color on what’s on our minds for 2025.
• Barclays to sunset its 10-year-old fintech accelerator program called Rise.
• When the upsell is misplaced … in money chatbots. Per the Wired essay: “It’s hard to place too much trust in your AI coach when the bot chats on commission.”
• Want more predictions? Read Michael Hershfield’s, founder and CEO of Accrue Savings, predictions on his LinkedIn post. And Plaid’s fintech predictions for 2025 are here.
• Alloy published its annual fraud trends and predictions report, and yes, fraud is still on the rise.

• No buy challenges are coming back in style, per a WSJ story. The idea is to buy as few things as possible.
• Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve found that the amount of active credit card holders making minimum monthly payments is now at an 12-year high. Per the report: "Consumers are not only spending more, leading to higher balances, but paying off less, increasing revolving amounts." Oh boy.
• X Money Account... is expected to hit Q1.

Let’s get where we ain’t,

Mary

*For the credit union exes reading: Here’s an upcoming webinar that you will likely find intriguing. The focus: How much it costs to acquire a member (including fintech firm, Debbie, providing the average member acquisition cost for the top 100 credit unions).

**This moment made me happy: