Bank Nerd Corner: Compliance, Complexity, and the Gray Areas of Fintech

Welcome back to Bank Nerd Corner, featuring yours truly and #1 among all bank nerds, Kiah Haslett, Banking and Fintech Editor at Bank Director.
First up, we’re breaking down the FDIC’s latest proposed rule, which tightens the screws on custodial accounts. Spoiler alert: Kiah's got some strong opinions on whether smaller banks should be held to different standards in the Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) space-and trust me, she’s not buying it. In BaaS, complexity is part of the deal-size doesn’t matter. Just look at SVB’s crash when it tried to level up its asset thresholds.
Next, we're diving into the flood of fintech “ecosystem standards” cropping up everywhere. Are these self-policed initiatives legit or just smoke and mirrors?
And don’t miss Kiah’s spicy rant about Mercury joining the Coalition for Financial Ecosystem Standards (CFES) and claiming they "take compliance seriously." Instead of owning up to their growth obsession, they should be saying, "We messed up, but now we get it-compliance matters!" It's time for fintechs to be accountable for their remediation efforts. Compliance isn’t just lip service-step up and pay up.
We’ll round it off with two burning questions: What exactly qualifies as a “bank service company,” and do fintech innovations like Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) and Earned Wage Access (EWA) count as loans?
The answers might surprise you, but one thing’s for sure-getting your paycheck faster shouldn’t come with a price tag.
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