Fintechs Are Starting to Buy Banks, But Why?

A common maxim in the mergers and acquisitions industry is that very small banks have a tough time finding buyers. But last week, we learned there’s an exception. And it comes from financial technology companies, one of which announced plans to buy a $154 million bank in Seattle called First Sound Bank for $23 million.

The acquirer is BM Technologies, the Radnor, Pennsylvania-based technology company that was spun off from Customers Bancorp earlier this year and trades on the New York Stock Exchange. The price translates to a premium of 166.4% for the bank, which trades on the pink sheets, according to investment bank Hovde Group.

“Fintechs are getting more aggressive in buying small bank charters,” says Curtis Carpenter, senior managing director for the investment bank Hovde Group, which was not involved in the deal. Fintechs may also be willing to pay more for a small bank than another bank will. For a large fintech company, getting access to a bank charter may be critical for their business plan going forward; paying an extra $1 million or $2 million may not be a lot of money for the fintech, but might be meaningful for the small bank.

It’s tough to see what kinds of premiums fintechs are paying for banks, because most fintechs are privately owned or the deals are so small, the financials sometimes aren’t disclosed. Granted, there are not a lot of U.S. financial technology companies buying banks. This year, there were six such announced deals. They included San Francisco-based SoFi Technologies’ planned purchase in March of $150 million Golden Pacific Bancorp in Sacramento, California, according to an analysis by Piper Sandler & Co. using S&P Global Market Intelligence data.

U.S. Financial Technology Companies Buying Banks

SOURCE: Piper Sandler & Co. using data from S&P Global Market Intelligence

There’s not a lot of banks buying fintechs either, as Bank Director Vice President of Research Emily McCormick explored recently. Banks aren’t as interested in buying fintechs as they are interested in buying other banks, mostly because of cultural hurdles and lack of comfort with valuations, according to Bank Director’s 2021 M&A Survey. Fintechs, on the other hand, have started to get really drawn to bank charters, as Bank Director Managing Editor Kiah Haslett showed in her second quarter 2021 magazine story, “The Latest, Oldest Thing in Banking” (available with a subscription).

“I think there’s a phenomenon out there; what you want is a bank charter,” says Chris Donat, a managing director and senior equity research analyst at Piper Sandler & Co. “If you go back to the financial crisis, when Ally Financial created its bank, having a bank as a source of deposits to fund loans is generally one of your cheaper ways to fund loans and is also more stable.” Fintechs also get access to the national payment rail networks and the Federal Reserve’s discount window for liquidity purposes.

As fintechs grow their businesses, a stable source of low-cost deposits is incredibly useful. “They’re interested in the paperwork if you will, the charter, and not the deposit franchise of having branches and the loan officers,” Donat says.

BM Technologies will leverage the charter to grow its national digitally focused banking services, which include student loan disbursement services to 725 colleges and universities as well as banking services to about 2 million students, plus a flagship banking program with T-Mobile US, according to an analyst note from Michael Diana, managing director of Maxim Group. But BM Technologies will keep the community bank at First Sound Bank focused on the Seattle area. First Sound Bank CEO Marty Steele will lead the community bank division and serve as COO of the newly formed BMTX Bank, the two companies announced. BM Technologies’ CEO Luvleen Sidhu will serve as chair and CEO of BMTX Bank.

“Together we are looking forward to this partnership to create a nationwide deposit gathering and lending platform with the power to deliver an integrated customer experience at the highest level,” Steele said in a release about the deal.

Diana says First Sound is a successful community bank. Plus, BM Technologies’ acquisition means it avoids having to pay bank partners to hold insured deposits. When online marketplace LendingClub Corp. bought Radius Bancorp last year for about $185 million in cash and stock, it was for a similar reason.

“It’s all about deposits,” Diana says. “You don’t have to pay anyone else for holding and servicing.”