Sprinkle Bit

Business of Fintech, Member Exclusive, Opinion

Fintech is in its empire-building era

• Fintechs are moving from unbundling banking to owning more of the infrastructure, licenses, and customer relationships around their businesses.
• Chime, Revolut, and Zilch show how scale is pushing fintechs into expansion, M&A, and greater control over everything surrounding their product suite.

10-Q

The Week in Market Moves | Sept 24 – Oct 01, 2026

• This analysis tracks recent specific company developments and how markets responded, anchored to Thursday's close.
• This week’s prominent moves came from Citi, Intuit, Robinhood, Fifth Third, and BMO.

Banking, Member Exclusive

The different ways banks are trying to own more of the financial relationship

• Banks are finding new ways to deepen customer relationships, from Live Oak’s industry specialization and Stifel’s relationship-led venture banking to SoFi’s stablecoin settlement and Nubank’s push into banking infrastructure.
• The common thread is owning a piece of the financial relationship that is hard to displace, whether through expertise, relationships, infrastructure, or regulated banking rails.

Announcement, Awards

Banking’s big ideas get their moment: The Big Bank Theory Awards 2026

• Tearsheet’s Big Bank Theory Awards celebrate the companies pushing banking beyond its traditional boundaries.
• The 2026 winners, including Temenos, Citizens, Pathward, Octane and Huntington Bank, Parafin, PayJoy, CineFi, DailyPay, and Lumin Digital, are tackling some of banking’s biggest shifts across technology, infrastructure, payments, and access.

Member Exclusive, New banks, Podcasts

Nubank’s Ethan Eismann: ‘You have to love your customers fanatically for them to love you fanatically’

• Nubank launched Nu Global and a dedicated U.S. product this month, its first consumer launch outside Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.
• Chief Design Officer Ethan Eismann explains why he believes trust in banking is built through app performance and care, not just aesthetics.