Brewster and Jordan are good folks; idealistic and willing to put their money and time where their mouth(s) are. As far as I can tell, the reality is pretty mu

Brewster and Jordan are good folks; idealistic and willing to put their money and time where their mouth(s) are. As far as I can tell, the reality is pretty much as they describe: there is negative appetite for new banking institutions of any sort in America. This is a top-down perspective from regulatory and law enforcement -- large centralized banks make enforcement (legal and regulatory) much easier. I'm sure that of the 5,000+ changes requested by the NCUA most were bullshit. But, there are many, many standards that modern banks adhere to -- and groups like the NCUA do tier out responsibility to credit unions based on their size, and how 'bank-like' their operations are. A small credit union is just going to look 'amateurish' to these examiners, and they have a fundamental duty to make sure that depositors are safe. What Brewster and Jordan seem to have discovered, and I think this is an important thing to know, is that the burden imposed means that it's impossible to bootstrap a financial institution like this in the current environment, even if there are millions of dollars of funding available. This is super sad.