The trusted intermediary between community banks and fintech companies.
Banks don’t need more options. They need fewer, better-vetted opportunities, judged by people who have spent their careers inside banking. We don’t just make the introduction. We underwrite it.
Pre-built Jack Henry integration. Two live references in your asset band. Solves your stated ag-lending speed goal.
Advisor note. Strongest candidate this quarter. I would open with their Iowa reference bank before the demo.
Why we exist.
We spent decades inside banking, watching institutions evaluate technology partner after technology partner. The pattern never changed: banks don’t fail for lack of options. They fail evaluating them.
Between us we have sold and structured more than $300M in bank-related deals, and we have sat on both sides of the table: the banker deciding whether a vendor survives committee, and the seller learning what banks actually buy. The Correspondent is that judgment, made into an institution. We vet both sides, we score the fit, and when we make an introduction, we put our names on it.
Stacy Bishop
Co-founder · 25+ years in banking
Stephen Bishop
Co-founder · 25+ years in banking
Three products, one standard of judgment.
The network is where partnerships happen. The intelligence is what the network learns. The advisory is the judgment itself, applied to your institution.
Correspondent NetworkThe introductions
Vetted membership for banks and fintech companies. Matches scored for fit, introduced by an advisor, with both sides opting in before contact details change hands.
Membership · standing diligence files · scored matches · advisor introductions · member events
Correspondent IntelligenceThe research
What hundreds of bank-fintech evaluations teach, written down. Vendor assessments, category maps, and peer benchmarking drawn from real diligence files and real outcomes, not press releases.
Vendor assessments · category market maps · buying guides · peer benchmarking · quarterly briefings
Correspondent AdvisoryThe judgment, applied
An innovation office for banks that can’t staff one. Vendor selection, partnership structuring, technology strategy, and board presentations, run by people who have closed these deals for decades.
Vendor selection · partnership design · technology and AI strategy · board advisory
Fig. 1 · The match queue
Three candidates a quarter, not three hundred listings.
The queue is deliberately short. Anything that fails a hard filter, wrong core system, incomplete compliance file, runway too thin to survive a bank sales cycle, never appears at all. What remains is ranked and explained in plain language a loan committee can read.
Fig. 2 · The score, opened up
Every number defends itself.
The fit score is a weighted composite, and the weights learn. Every introduction reports back: meeting, pilot, contract, renewal, or pass. The network gets smarter with each outcome, which is something no static directory can copy.
Held back from higher. Pricing assumes a 3-year term; your committee has only ever approved 1-year initial vendor terms.
Fig. 3 · The standing diligence file
Vendor diligence, done once, kept current.
Every founder in the network maintains one diligence file your vendor-management process can accept as-is. No more six-week document chases before the first conversation. When something expires, the file says so before you ask.
- Security
- SOC 2 Type II, current audit periodVerified
- Compliance
- Compliance officer on staff · BSA/AML program documentedVerified
- Financial
- 18 months runway, attested by counselVerified
- References
- Two live community-bank deployments, same asset bandVerified
- Integration
- Jack Henry SilverLake, certified connectorVerified
How a match is made.
Four stages, in order. The algorithm ranks; a person decides. Bankers are relationship buyers, and the warm introduction is the product.
The profile interview
Each bank sits for a structured interview: asset size, charter, core system, board-approved priorities, risk appetite, past vendor failures. Each founder files the standing diligence dossier. Honesty here is an admission requirement, not a courtesy.
Hard filters
Core incompatibility, unacceptable compliance posture, or runway too short for a bank’s buying cycle ends the candidacy before it starts. A good demo does not override a hard filter.
The weighted score
What survives is scored on mandate overlap, peer precedent, pace match, and pricing fit. Outcomes from every prior introduction feed back into the weights.
The advisor’s introduction
A network advisor reviews the top of the queue, attaches a candid note, and makes the introduction only after both sides opt in. No pitch spam, in either direction. That protection is the point.
Two sides of the same ledger.
The bank’s benefit is mostly risk removed. The founder’s is mostly revenue accelerated. The network charges accordingly.
For community banks
Risk removed, attention protected.
- Pre-cleared vendor risk. The diligence file arrives assembled in the form your vendor-management process accepts. No six-week document chase before the first conversation.
- A filtered field, not a firehose. Everything you see has already survived the hard filters: core compatibility, compliance posture, runway. The score tells you what deserves your hour.
- Board-ready justification. The written match rationale, peer-bank precedent, and a candid advisor note give your sponsor something to defend in committee. The network shares that risk with them.
- A capability you don’t have to staff. Fintech evaluation and post-deal monitoring, rented for less than a conference booth. The network hears about a member’s breach or layoffs before you would.
For fintech founders
Revenue accelerated, credibility earned.
- Vet once, sell many. One standing diligence file the whole network accepts, instead of repeating the same ordeal for every prospect. Your compliance spend becomes an asset.
- The dead year, removed. You meet banks pre-qualified for fit, with diligence already accepted and startup timelines agreed in writing. The longest, coldest part of the bank sales cycle disappears.
- Admission is a credential. Surviving a vetting bar that visibly declines most applicants is third-party proof of bank-readiness you can use everywhere, the way SOC 2 itself works.
- Introductions with intent. A bank sees you because its profile matched yours, an advisor endorsed it, and both sides opted in. And when you score a 76, you’re told what held you back.
Admission is the marketing.
The network is worth joining because of who is kept out. Both sides apply against a published bar, and rejection is visible by design.
For community banks
| Charter | U.S. bank or thrift, under $10B in assets |
| Sponsor | A named executive sponsor, not a committee |
| Mandate | Board-acknowledged technology or growth mandate |
| Posture | No active enforcement actions |
| Candor | Full profile interview, including past vendor failures |
For fintech founders
| Security | SOC 2 Type II complete or in audit |
| Runway | 12 months minimum, attested |
| Proof | One live financial-institution deployment, or accelerator graduation |
| Compliance | Compliance officer on staff, or fractional equivalent |
| Patience | Bank-speed timelines, agreed in writing |
Proposed terms, v1
| Bank membership | $8,000 to $18,000 a year, tiered by asset size |
| Founder vetting | $2,500 once, non-refundable |
| Founder network fee | $12,000 to $24,000 a year, on admission |
| Success fee | 10 to 15% of first-year contract value, capped at $50,000 |
| Design partners | Bank fees waived for the founding cohort |
| Intelligence | Included with bank membership at launch |
| Advisory | Scoped per engagement |
Terms above are concept positioning for evaluation, not published pricing. Member counts, conversion rates, and outcome claims are deliberately absent from this page until the network has real ones to report.
Apply on behalf of your bank, or your company.
One application, reviewed by a person. If the network cannot plausibly produce a strong match for you within two quarters, you will be told so plainly and your fee will not be taken.
Applications are reviewed against the published bar. Most are declined.