The Banker Next Door

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on October 24, 2026. European auto makers are getting crushed right now because of the hardcore pivot toward all electric vehicles, letting Chinese automakers into their market, and then further subsidizing said Chinese automakers. Now Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes Benz, and Porsche are all cutting jobs and sustaining big losses. The U.S. auto industry dodged a bullet as this could have been their fate. The U.S., under the Trump Administration, turned away from a hardcore pivot to EVs and did not allow China to flood the market.

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on October 24, 2026. What do Private Credit, Insurance, and the Commercial Paper market on Wall Street have to do with your pension or retirement account? As Blue Owl continues to slump and Mark Walter’s problems mount, Private Credit is desperate to get into your retirement account! Why? What does Mark Walter’s investment in insurance companies have to do with the commercial paper market on Wall Street? How does the AI trade play into all of this? Finally, why is Wall Street working to take away investor protections?

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.

What are the main banking core system providers doing with stablecoins? FIS and Fiserv came out of the gate with big announcements when the GENIUS Act was passed into law in 2025. FIS put out a plan that would allow clients the ability to make domestic and cross-border payments using Circle USDA. Fiserv planned to launch a digital assets platform and its own stablecoin called FIUSD. A year later and not much happened. Jack Henry was more patient in their approach. They decided to allow third-party stablecoin providers to integrate with their platforms in a way that allows clients to choose from multiple options. There are two big problems right now. First, banks do not see major demand for stablecoin products, so they are not moving quickly to adapt. Two, and a far bigger issue, is that the banking technology stack and digital asset provider technology stack are very fragmented, which makes putting stablecoin in place really difficult. This episode reviewed an article from FinXtech titled “Cores find stablecoins a hard sell for customer.” A link to the article is included below.

Link: Cores Find Stablecoins a Hard Sell for Customers - FinXTech

On October 21, 2026, the OCC issued GENIUS Act regulations: Final Rule. This Final Rule addressed standards and requirements related to activities, reserve assets, redemption, risk management, audits, reports, supervision, custody, applications, registrations, revocation, recission, and capital and operational backstop. The Final Rule stopped short of preventing stablecoin issuers from providing yield, instead the OCC will examine situations on a case-by-case basis. This did not make the banking lobby happy, as the ABA and ICBA pushed back. It’s not exactly a win for the crypto community either. The OCC sought to “ride the fence” and make both lobbies happy while providing the necessary framework for stablecoin issuance and operations. Does this open the door to deposit-flight concerns? Maybe, but there are pros and cons in every situation. This episode reviewed multiple articles and press releases from S&P Global, Banking Dive, American Bankers Association, and the OCC. A link to the GENIUS Act Final Rule is included below.

Link: Implementing the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act for the Issuance of Stablecoins by Entities Subject to the Jurisdiction of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency

Bank News: DFCU to purchase Gulfside Bank. PenAir CU to merge with Fort McClellan CU. Texas Bank to purchase Haskell National Bank. Cross River Bank to purchase Accrue. Triad Business Bank rejected by M&F Bancorp for the fourth time! Enova International and Grasshopper Bancorp terminate deal. Ramp applies for national trust bank charter. Sezzle applies for national bank charter. Upstart gets revolving credit facility from MUFG. TabaPay happy they did not purchase Synapse. Wells Fargo is transforming its AI strategy. PNC CEO says agent only will never happen! Never say that! Plaid CEO thinks AI could fuel a scary year. FDIC mulls agentic AI deposit impact. Citi, JPMorgan, Goldman and other big banks take cautions approach on AI after agents gain access to customer bank accounts. Fifth Third CEO sees online banks and wealth platforms as facing higher AI deposit risk. Stifel makes AI investment. BayCom repositions investment portfolio. Paze looking to make moves after revamp. BitGo is growing after big year. Home Bancorp sees stock slide on increase in credit issues. Barclays to layoff 5,000 employees! As technological pace continues, bank regulators are slow to react. This episode reviewed multiple articles from Banking Dive and S&P Global Market Intelligence (subscription required).

What are the best banking conferences coming up in 2027? Here is a list of 9 conferences worth checking out: Acquire or Be Acquired, ABA Conference for Community Bankers, Fintech Meetup, ICBA Live, ABA Washington Summit, CBA Live, The Financial Brand Forum, National Credit Union CEO Roundtable, and ABA Risk and Compliance Conference. Buy your tickets, hop on a plane, and go on an adventure! This episode reviewed an article from Banking Dive titled “Top bank conferences to attend in 2027.” A link to the article is included below.

Link: Top bank conferences to attend in 2027 | Banking Dive

This is part 43 of the crypto series. Checking in on Strategy. Their stock is climbing as Bitcoin is bouncing back. Their Bitcoin stockpile is back to their previous level before some recently selling. Michael Saylor believes that Bitcoin will go over $100K in 2027. Bo Hines might be in some trouble, at the very least the optics are terrible. While Bo was in the White House working on crypto legislation, he owned a consulting company called Nxum that was receiving millions from Tether, who stood to benefit greatly from sign crypto legislation. After the legislation got through, Bo was immediately hired by Tether to be their U.S. Chief. Can you say pay to play. Binance has been aiding Iran according to a recent Senate investigation and reporting from The Wall Street Journal. Some of FTX’s investments in datacenters are starting to payoff. What are some things to know about Tokenized Stock? Fiserv starts its stablecoin system. Coinbase is working with Raven and Citibank. This episode reviewed multiple articles from The Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, Investopedia, Banking Dive, and CNBC.

This video is a clip from BND: Strategy Room Live Stream on October 17, 2026. The biggest banks in the U.S. reported third quarter earnings for 2026. JPMorgan reported a rare miss, Wells Fargo reported mixed results, Citigroup reported strong earnings, Goldman Sachs reported strong earnings, Bank of America reported disappointing numbers mainly related to a $1.2B fine for AML violations, BlackRock and Morgan Stanley both reported strong results. While the earnings were good, there are some concerns bubbling under the surface. Rising interest rates, an unstable bond market, geopolitical issues, and questions around the AI boom and potential IPO slowdown could hamper bank earnings moving forward. The episode reviewed multiple articles from The Wall Street Journal and CNBC.

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.