Chime Financial (NASDAQ: CHYM) has agreed to purchase longtime partner Stride Bank in an all-cash transaction valued at $590 million, a move that would give the fintech its own nationally chartered bank and a more direct path to owning the infrastructure behind its accounts.
The San Francisco-based company said Stride, based in Enid, Oklahoma and founded in 1913, has provided banking services to Chime for more than seven years.
After the deal closes, the institution is expected to operate as Chime Bank, N.A., a wholly owned subsidiary.
Current Stride chairman and chief executive Brud Baker is slated to remain in charge of the bank.
For years Chime has relied on partner banks, including Stride and The Bancorp Bank, to hold deposits and issue debit cards. Management now argues that buying an existing charter is faster and more reliable than applying for a new one from scratch.
Owning the bank would let Chime fold its technology stack into the banking layer, cut sponsor-bank fees, lower funding costs, and expand lending with more control over underwriting and product design.
The company said it still intends to keep the bank’s assets under $10 billion for the foreseeable future, a threshold that helps preserve higher debit-card interchange rates under existing rules.
Chime estimates more than $100 million in net synergies and says the purchase should add to earnings per share as soon as it closes.
The price equals about 1.5 times Stride’s tangible book value.
Chime plans to pay from cash already on its balance sheet and does not expect to raise extra capital for the deal.
Both boards have approved the agreement.
Closing is targeted for the first half of 2027, pending review by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Reserve.
Alongside the announcement, Chime lifted its 2026 outlook.
Third-quarter revenue is now projected at $705 million, or roughly 30 percent growth from a year earlier, with adjusted EBITDA of $117 million to $120 million.
Full-year revenue guidance moved to $2.76 billion to $2.77 billion, implying growth of about 26 percent to 27 percent, with adjusted EBITDA of $481 million to $489 million.
Investors reacted fairly quickly: shares rose about 10 percent after hours and about 11 percent in premarket trading the next day.
Morgan Stanley advised Chime; Piper Sandler advised Stride.
Chief executive Chris Britt framed the purchase as a way to strengthen an existing model rather than change it.
Chime, he said, was built so everyday customers would get simpler, lower-cost banking.
Combining the company’s brand and member relationships with Stride’s charter and operating team is meant to speed the goal of becoming a key provider of primary checking accounts.
Baker said the partnership has already shown how seriously Chime treats its members and that the combined organization can create new opportunities for customers, communities, and employees.
The deal is a notable step in the broader shift of large consumer fintechs from renting bank licenses to owning them.
If regulators approve the combination, Chime would move from a partner-bank structure to a vertically integrated platform while still presenting itself as a payments-led, relatively asset-light consumer technology company.
