Chime Moves to Take Full Control of Its Banking Stack With $590 Million Stride Bank Acquisition
Chime Moves to Take Full Control of Its Banking Stack With $590 Million Stride Bank Acquisition #
Chime Financial, the San Francisco-based neobank listed on Nasdaq under the ticker CHYM, announced Tuesday that it has agreed to acquire Stride Bank, N.A. for $590 million in cash. The deal converts a seven-year banking partnership into full ownership and advances the company’s goal of becoming the largest provider of primary bank accounts in the United States.
Under the terms of the deal, Stride will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Chime and be renamed Chime Bank, N.A. The acquisition values Stride at approximately 1.5 times its tangible book value and is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to approval from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Federal Reserve. Chime will become a bank holding company upon closing.
Founded in 1913 and headquartered in Enid, Oklahoma, Stride holds a national bank charter, carries roughly $4.9 billion in assets, and has provided the regulatory and operational backbone for Chime’s deposit and payment products since the fintech’s early days. Stride chairman and chief executive Brud Baker, who has been associated with the institution since 1970, will remain at the helm of the combined banking subsidiary after the deal closes. Baker said in the announcement that the partnership’s track record gave Stride confidence in the combination.
Chime said it chose to acquire an existing chartered bank rather than pursue its own charter from scratch, describing the approach as a “faster and more proven path to full-stack ownership.” The move eliminates the sponsor-bank fee arrangements standard in fintech-bank partnerships. Management projects that those savings, combined with expanded lending capacity and lower cost of funds, will generate more than $100 million in net synergies annually. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings per share.
Chime chief executive and co-founder Chris Britt described the deal as a structural upgrade rather than a strategic pivot, saying the company’s member-focused, technology-driven model would remain unchanged. Ownership of Stride will give Chime greater control over product development timelines and credit underwriting, two areas where reliance on a third-party bank has imposed constraints on neobanks.
Alongside the acquisition announcement, Chime raised its full-year 2026 guidance. The company now forecasts revenue of $2.76 billion to $2.77 billion, representing year-on-year growth of approximately 26 to 27 percent, and adjusted EBITDA of $481 million to $489 million. Shares jumped roughly six percent in after-hours trading following the news.
Copy link