Still learning my way around Substack. Added this comment to the wrong post.
Simon, I thought this was a great note, as always. I've been following you a while but never commented. I thought I would on this note to see if you've ever heard of us. I'm the IRO @ Triumph Financial (Nasdaq:TFIN). I find most people have not, given we play in a space few are familiar with, trucking. We're a bank, building a payments network in trucking. It's an industry experiencing a severe freight recession currently, but we're growing through that, precisely because we can execute, and we're obsessed with serving our customers as you describe. We're also, unfortunately, seeing many of the Fintech Hangover issues you speak of in this note in our peers and competitors.
Your bank valuations section in this note, is also very interesting as it is spot on for our industry. If you're innovating and doing something different, particularly in a value add, well-executed partnership with fintechs, you're probably doing better than most. If not, you're languishing in the bank world. Most of our peers are experiencing this as you describe. On the other hand, we are probably the most expensive bank in the US, or close to it on a forward PE basis. The reason is what makes us different, TriumphPay.
I'd love to connect with you and introduce you to the company and what we're doing, if you're interested when time allows. Profits matter, particularly in this rate environment. The days of raising money, piling it in the center of the room and lighting it on fire to get scale are gone. Blitzscaling doesn't translate into fintech well, and you have to earn your cost of capital and the right to play everyday in this space. Culture matters. In any given fact pattern, the things that matter most are the quality of the people involved and the quality of their thinking.
The Great Erosion of Banking
Still learning my way around Substack. Added this comment to the wrong post.
Simon, I thought this was a great note, as always. I've been following you a while but never commented. I thought I would on this note to see if you've ever heard of us. I'm the IRO @ Triumph Financial (Nasdaq:TFIN). I find most people have not, given we play in a space few are familiar with, trucking. We're a bank, building a payments network in trucking. It's an industry experiencing a severe freight recession currently, but we're growing through that, precisely because we can execute, and we're obsessed with serving our customers as you describe. We're also, unfortunately, seeing many of the Fintech Hangover issues you speak of in this note in our peers and competitors.
Your bank valuations section in this note, is also very interesting as it is spot on for our industry. If you're innovating and doing something different, particularly in a value add, well-executed partnership with fintechs, you're probably doing better than most. If not, you're languishing in the bank world. Most of our peers are experiencing this as you describe. On the other hand, we are probably the most expensive bank in the US, or close to it on a forward PE basis. The reason is what makes us different, TriumphPay.
I'd love to connect with you and introduce you to the company and what we're doing, if you're interested when time allows. Profits matter, particularly in this rate environment. The days of raising money, piling it in the center of the room and lighting it on fire to get scale are gone. Blitzscaling doesn't translate into fintech well, and you have to earn your cost of capital and the right to play everyday in this space. Culture matters. In any given fact pattern, the things that matter most are the quality of the people involved and the quality of their thinking.
I'm at lwyse@tfin.com or @LukeWyse on X.
Wish you the best, and thanks again for the interesting, relevant and quality writing.