Stripe expresses interest for PayPal; Payoneer seeks to form national trust bank

TOP NEWS IN BANKING & FINANCIAL SERVICES

– Payment processor Stripe LLC has expressed preliminary interest in acquiring online payments company PayPal Holdings Inc., either in full or in part, Bloomberg News reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The deliberations, however, are still too early to indicate whether these would lead to a transaction, and representatives for Stripe and PayPal declined to comment, the report said.

– Financial technology company Payoneer Global Inc. said it has filed an application with the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to establish PAYO Digital Bank N.A., a national trust bank designed to support stablecoin-enabled infrastructure for global businesses. "Through PAYO Digital Bank, we aim to provide customers with a trusted and regulated way to leverage the latest payment innovations as part of their global financial operations, Payoneer CEO John Caplan said in a news release.

➤ Deposit repricing drives US bank margins higher in Q4 2025

US banks continued their net interest margin expansion streak for a third consecutive quarter in the fourth quarter of 2025 as funding costs declined faster than asset yields during the early phase of the easing cycle.

➤ US insurance IPOs thin on the ground in 2025 as companies weigh sales instead

Insurance initial public offerings remained thin on the ground last year as insurers weighed the benefits of an outright sale rather than going public.

READ MORE about emerging data trends that are taking place in the US financial services industry in our feature Data Dispatch.

EARNINGS SPOTLIGHT

– Bank of Montreal released its latest quarterly financial results today.

BANKING

– Detroit-based First Independence Bank won the bid to buy failed Chicago lender Metropolitan Capital Bank & Trust among a number of bidders that included a blank-check company that was formed to buy failed banks, The Bank Slate reported. According to the report, the bidders included Porticoes National Bank, formed in 2023; Anchor Bank in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida; Liberty Bank and Trust Co. in New Orleans; State Bank of Texas in Dallas; and Stearns Bank NA in St. Cloud, Minnesota. According to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. summary of the bidding, First Independence's winning bid included a 5% deposit premium, a nearly $16 million asset discount and no loss-sharing agreement.

– A de novo bank called New South Bank is in the process of being formed in Tampa, Florida, aiming to serve small businesses in the state, The Bank Slate reported, citing a LinkedIn post of the organizers. Ken Page, former chairman of Lafayette State Bank, would be the chairman and CEO of the new bank, while Thomas Welsh, who was CFO at CapTec USA, would be the president and COO, according to the report, citing their LinkedIn profiles.

– Customer-satisfaction scores for superregional banks fell 3% over the last year, creating a gap from the biggest banks' scores and widening the advantage held by smaller banks, American Banker reported, citing the American Customer Satisfaction Index's 2026 Finance Study.

– FDIC-insured institutions' aggregate net income sequentially fell $1.6 billion, or 2%, in the fourth quarter of 2025 to $77.7 billion, but their full year net income grew 10.2% year over year, the agency disclosed in its latest Quarterly Banking Profile The FDIC said the 4,336 insured commercial banks and savings institutions reported a return on assets ratio of 1.24% in the final quarter of 2025.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

– Hong Kong-based stablecoin payments company Red Dot Technology Ltd. is weighing an IPO in the US to raise more than $1 billion, Bloomberg reported Feb. 24, citing people familiar with the matter. RedotPay is working with JPMorgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc. on the potential listing, sources told Bloomberg. The company may seek a valuation of over $4 billion, the sources said.

– WisdomTree Inc. received a so-called exemptive relief from the US Securities and Exchange Commission to trade tokenized shares of its money-market mutual fund intraday, a first-of-its-kind regulatory approval, Bloomberg reported.

– The US SEC is dropping its cash sweep probe into LPL Financial Holdings Inc. the company disclosed in a regulatory filing. "On January 23, 2026, the SEC informed the company that it had concluded its investigation and did not intend to recommend an enforcement action," the filing said.

– Stripe's valuation soared by over 70% to $159 billion in the past year after its latest employee share sale, which will allow the company to remain private for longer, the Financial Times reported. According to the report, the deal alleviates the pressure on Stripe to seek a public listing as it allows employees to cash in on their holdings.

– Trade finance firm Raistone Capital LLC, which had exposure to collapsed auto parts supplier First Brands Group, filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in New York, posting $3.7 million in assets and $1.9 million in liabilities, Bloomberg reported. Raistone legal representatives did not immediately reply to a request for comment, according to the report.

– New Mountain Finance Corp., a business development company, sold $477 million of assets at 94 cents on the dollar to increase portfolio diversification, reduce payment-in-kind income and enhance financial flexibility, Bloomberg reported, citing a Feb. 24 statement from the company. The move comes as broader concerns about private credit intensify, the report noted.

POLICY AND REGULATION

– The Trump administration is weighing a possible executive order or other action that would require banks to collect citizenship information from customers, a new front in the administration's crackdown on immigrants living in the US illegally, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter. The Treasury Department is reviewing the action, according to the report.

– The US SEC issued significant updates to its Enforcement Manual, including changes to investigative procedures that the agency said are intended to enhance consistency and uniformity in its enforcement division's practices and to more efficiently protect investors, maintain fair, orderly and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.

– The legal fight over the shutdown of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has reached a crucial hearing in federal court to determine whether the agency's acting director, Russell Vought, has near-absolute authority to fire up to 90% of its staff, which the bureau's union is vigorously fighting, American Banker reported. But the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit judges, on Feb. 24, grappled with oral arguments and are likely to remand the case back to the district court for relitigation, the news outlet reported.

– The National Credit Union Administration is seeking stakeholders' comment on the sixth round of proposed regulatory changes associated with its Deregulation Project. The project is an ongoing review of NCUA's regulations to ensure these are focused on credit unions' safety, soundness and resilience, according to a press release.

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