Chime to Buy Stride Bank for $590 Million, Raises 2026 Revenue Outlook

SoFi Technologies and Mastercard announced that stablecoin settlement went live across SoFi Bank, N.A.'s debit and credit card program, migrating its entire US$25.00 billion card portfolio to SoFiUSD. SoFiUSD is the first stablecoin issued by a nationally chartered bank on Mastercard's global network, positioning bank-issued stablecoins as an operational bridge between traditional payment rails and blockchain infrastructure. The move connects to SoFi's April 2026 launch of Big Business Banking, which lets enterprises manage fiat and crypto, mint and burn SoFiUSD, and access real time payments in a single bank interface. SoFi's narrative projects $7.7 billion revenue and $1.6 billion earnings by 2029, requiring 21.6% yearly revenue growth and an earnings increase of about $1.0 billion from $636.3 million today, while the most pessimistic analysts saw SoFi reaching only about US$6.0 billion revenue and US$1.0 billion earnings by 2029.

Deutsche Bank and J.P. Morgan have both initiated coverage of Nordic online brokerage and savings platform Nordnet, taking opposing views on whether its growth prospects justify its valuation. Deutsche Bank started with a hold rating and a SEK360 price target, saying the shares, trading at about 20 times estimated 2027 earnings and roughly 30% above the peer average excluding Nordnet, already price in much of its growth. J.P. Morgan began at overweight with a SEK401 target, raising its 2027-28 forecasts for brokerage, fund commissions and net interest income to about 8% to 9% above company-compiled consensus. Deutsche Bank forecasts annual EPS growth of about 15% over 2025-28, while J.P. Morgan sees about 14% annually over 2026-30, helped by increased cross-border trading and related foreign-exchange fees. On third-quarter estimates, Deutsche Bank expects transaction-related net income of SEK667 million and net income of SEK927 million, while J.P. Morgan expects transaction income of SEK712 million and net profit of SEK947 million. Nordnet had about 2.5 million customers and SEK1.374 trillion in savings capital at the end of June 2026.

Hokkaido Electric Power announced on the 30th that it will launch its banking service, Hokuden BANK, on October 14. The service will use the banking functions provided by UI Bank, a digital bank under Tokyo Kiraboshi Financial Group, to accept deposits and extend loans. Customers can open an account through a smartphone app and link it with their Hokkaido Electric membership service account. If they set up direct debit for their electricity and gas bills and meet conditions such as maintaining a deposit balance, the point reward rate on bill payments and other transactions will be up to 10 percent.

SoFi Technologies has begun migrating its full debit and credit card program to stablecoin settlement using SoFiUSD across Mastercard's network, a live card program expected to handle more than $25 billion in annualized volume. SoFi Bank has already moved transactions onto blockchain rails, and merchants do not need to hold stablecoins or build new infrastructure to participate. Payward will join the SoFi Exchange Network, list SoFiUSD on Kraken and use SoFi's Big Business Banking capabilities, while SoFi will use Kraken Prime for digital-asset liquidity. In the second quarter, management said roughly $300 million of SoFiUSD was in circulation, and second-quarter adjusted net revenues rose 40% year over year to $1.2 billion, with adjusted EBITDA of $358 million at a 30% margin and fee-based revenues of $472 million. Management lifted 2026 adjusted net revenue guidance to $4.75 billion-$4.85 billion while maintaining about $1.6 billion of adjusted EBITDA, and consensus estimates point to 2026 and 2027 EPS increases of 53.85% and 35.91%, respectively. SoFi shares have fallen 36.7% year to date as of Sept. 25, 2026, compared with a 5.7% decline for PayPal and a 17.4% gain for Block, and SOFI trades at a forward 12-month price-to-sales multiple of 3.83X versus 1.32X for PayPal and 1.63X for Block; SOFI carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).