Evolve Bank & Trust

Last updated
Evolve Bank & Trust
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Financial services
PredecessorFirst State Bank [1]
FoundedJune 5, 1925;99 years ago (1925-06-05) [1]
Headquarters,
Number of locations
26 [1]
Key people
W. Scott Stafford (CEO) [2]
ProductsEvolve Open Banking [2]
Parent Evolve Bancorp Inc. [3]
Website www.getevolved.com

Evolve Bank & Trust, formerly First State Bank, [4] is an American bank headquartered in West Memphis, Arkansas. It is best known since 2010 for partnering with fintech companies to offer banking services to their customers. [3] Evolve has been recognized multiple times as an Inc. 5000 company [5] and has also received several honors from Top Workplace USA. [6]

Contents

In 2024, Evolve Bank faced scrutiny due to freezing funds of certain fintech customers, including Yotta and Juno, which restricted access to over $100 million held in customer accounts. This incident attracted public attention as many impacted customers eventually received only minimal fund access, leading to widespread frustration and media coverage. [7]

Evolve's Chief Marketing & Communications Officer resigned in October 2024, citing his "integrity and well-being" as a cause. [8]

History

Early years

Founded in Parkin in 1925 as First State Bank, [9] the bank provided loans to local farmers in Cross County, Arkansas. In 1934, it became a member of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. [4]

2005-present

In 2005, First State Bank was renamed to Evolve Bank & Trust [4] after a group led by Chairman Scot Lenoir acquired it. The bank then relocated its banking charter to West Memphis. [9]

In 2017, Evolve established its Open Banking division to provide Banking-as-a-Service. [9] Evolve serves as the partner bank for fintech companies like Branch, Marqeta, [10] Mercury, [11] and Stripe. [12] Evolve Open Banking also provides card services offerings, allowing companies to white-label Mastercard, Visa, and American Express cards. [13]

In 2022, Evolve was ranked #1 in trust departments in Arkansas, surpassing Simmons Bank, according to Arkansas Business. [14]

In June 2024, the Federal Reserve Board issued an enforcement action against the bank for deficiencies in their anti–money laundering, risk management, and consumer compliance programs. [15] [16]

Also, in June 2024, Evolve announced it was the victim of a data breach by the cybercrime group LockBit. [17] [3] [18] Some of its corporate fintech clients, including Affirm, [19] Mercury [20] and Wise [21] [22] also announced their customers were affected by the breach. [23]

Accolades & honors

Evolve Open Banking ranked as a Nacha Top 50 Originator in both 2022 [24] and 2023. [25] Additionally, Evolve was recognized as the Most Innovative Bank of 2023 by the Tearsheet Awards. [26]

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References

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  2. 1 2 "Investor Kit 2024" (PDF). Evolve Bank & Trust.
  3. 1 2 3 Xie, Teresa; Gorrivan, Charles (2024-06-26). "Evolve Bank & Trust Confirms Data Was Stolen in Cyber Attack". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 2024-06-26. Retrieved 2024-06-27.
  4. 1 2 3 Rooney, Kate (2019-02-15). "Small banks you've never heard of are quietly enabling the tech takeover of the financial industry". CNBC. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  5. "Evolve Bank & Trust". Inc. 5000. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  6. "Working at Evolve Bank & Trust". Top Workplaces. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
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  8. "Yotta Payment Processing Updates". Yotta Payment Processing Updates. Retrieved 2024-11-12.
  9. 1 2 3 Massey, Kyle (2022-09-25). "Tech Work Fuels Huge Growth at Evolve Bank & Trust of West Memphis". Arkansas Business — Business News, Real Estate, Law, Construction. Archived from the original on 2024-09-25. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  10. "Marqeta Partners With Evolve Bank & Trust on Expanded Program Management Capabilities". PYMNTS.com. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  11. Kauflin, Jeff. "Silicon Valley Bank Collapse Produces An Early Winner: Digital Banks". Forbes. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
  12. Rudegeair, Peter (2020-12-03). "Stripe to Offer Banking Services in Deal With Goldman Sachs, Citigroup". THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. Archived from the original on 2020-12-03. Retrieved 2024-10-19.
  13. "Evolve Bank & Trust Compares Banking-as-a-Service to Open Banking". DownBeach. 2024-03-25. Retrieved 2024-10-20.
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  15. "Federal Reserve Board issues an enforcement action against Evolve Bancorp, Inc. and Evolve Bank & Trust for deficiencies in the bank's anti-money laundering, risk management, and consumer compliance programs" (Press release). Federal Reserve. 2024-07-14. Archived from the original on 2024-07-26. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  16. Lang, Hannah; Schroeder, Pete (2024-07-17). "Fed penalizes Evolve Bank for failing to manage fintech partnership risk". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2024-06-14. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  17. "Arkansas-based Evolve Bank confirms cyber attack and data breach". Reuters. June 27, 2024. Retrieved 2024-08-02.
  18. "Cybersecurity Incident". Evolve Bank & Trust. Archived from the original on 2024-08-02. Retrieved 2024-08-03.
  19. @Affirm (2024-06-27). "As an Affirm Card user, we wanted to alert you of a recent cybersecurity incident at Evolve Bank and Trust, an issuing partner on the Affirm Card (not an originating bank partner for Affirm loans)" (Tweet). Retrieved 2024-08-03 via Twitter.
  20. "Data breach at Evolve Bank & Trust". Mercury. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
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  22. "Data breach at Evolve Bank & Trust in the US". Wise. 2024-06-28. Archived from the original on 2024-08-03. Retrieved 2024-08-04.
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  26. "Announcing the winners of The Big Bank Theory Awards 2023". Tearsheet. 2023-05-31. Retrieved 2024-10-20.