Smartkarma AI Primers, Smartkarma

αSK Primers

Smartkarma AI Primers

Smartkarma

Smartkarma unites the fragmented investment industry, connecting institutional investors, independent research providers, and corporates within a single network.

Research Reinvented

Equity Bottom-Up

First Citizens Bcshs Cl A / Equity Bottom-Up

First Citizens BancShares, Inc. is the holding company for First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company and Ironstone Bank.  First-Citizens serves North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia.  Ironstone operates in Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida.

<ul>
  <li>First Citizens has been transformed by the FDIC-assisted acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023, nearly doubling its asset size and positioning it as a top 20 U.S. financial institution. This strategic move significantly expanded its capabilities, particularly in serving the innovation and technology sectors.</li>
  <li>The bank has demonstrated strong growth, reflected in its financial performance and aggressive capital return program. The acquisition has been highly accretive, and the company is focused on integrating SVB's unique capabilities in global fund banking, private equity, and venture capital.</li>
  <li>While the acquisition presents significant long-term opportunities, near-term headwinds include ongoing integration risks, muted loan growth guidance for 2026, and the need to repay a substantial note to the FDIC. The company's performance will be closely tied to its ability to manage these challenges and capitalize on the specialized businesses it has acquired.</li>
</ul><p><em>This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.</em></p>


  First Citizens has been transformed by the FDIC-assisted acquisition of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March 2023, nearly doubling its asset size and positioning it as a top 20 U.S. financial institution. This strategic move significantly expanded its capabilities, particularly in serving the innovation and technology sectors.
  The bank has demonstrated strong growth, reflected in its financial performance and aggressive capital return program. The acquisition has been highly accretive, and the company is focused on integrating SVB's unique capabilities in global fund banking, private equity, and venture capital.
  While the acquisition presents significant long-term opportunities, near-term headwinds include ongoing integration risks, muted loan growth guidance for 2026, and the need to repay a substantial note to the FDIC. The company's performance will be closely tied to its ability to manage these challenges and capitalize on the specialized businesses it has acquired.
This content is AI-generated and displayed for general informational purposes only. Please verify independently before use.

Primer: First Citizens Bcshs Cl A (FCNCA US) - Feb 2026

Private Markets, Angel and Secondary Investing, Sacra

Sacra

Private Markets, Angel and Secondary Investing

Bringing transparency to private markets so investors, founders, and employees can build on conviction. Sacra delivers deeply researched insights on the private companies shaping tomorrow's markets. By surfacing the data, context, and operator perspective that are missing from private markets today, we help secondary buyers and sellers price equity accurately and unlock liquidity for the people building these businesses.

Private Capital Markets

Banking and finance software for LatAm SMBs with built-in ERP, lending, and payments

<ul><li>Kapital ( has seen product-market fit around their stablecoin treasury product that lets companies deposit money and hold it in Circle's USD-denominated stablecoin USDC, with "almost every company" using it to de-risk against the high volatility of local currencies like the Colombian peso.</li><li>As payment rails, Kapital uses USDC to settle international transfers for their customers fast (in minutes) and cheaply (~$0.0037 per transaction) vs. paying ~$50 to send a wire and 1-3% on currency exchange fees.</li><li>While incumbent banks move money slowly & expensively and monetize on each transaction, Kapital is aiming to be fast & cheap and drive volume through value-added products like Kapital Flex (buy-now-pay-later for B2B procurement) and engagement & retention for its core subscription SaaS platform.</li></ul>

Kapital ( has seen product-market fit around their stablecoin treasury product that lets companies deposit money and hold it in Circle's USD-denominated stablecoin USDC, with "almost every company" using it to de-risk against the high volatility of local currencies like the Colombian peso.As payment rails, Kapital uses USDC to settle international transfers for their customers fast (in minutes) and cheaply (~$0.0037 per transaction) vs. paying ~$50 to send a wire and 1-3% on currency exchange fees.While incumbent banks move money slowly & expensively and monetize on each transaction, Kapital is aiming to be fast & cheap and drive volume through value-added products like Kapital Flex (buy-now-pay-later for B2B procurement) and engagement & retention for its core subscription SaaS platform.

Following Great Public Companies, Watchlist Investing

Watchlist Investing

Following Great Public Companies

Exploring timeless investing concepts in the search for great businesses.

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>The Boston Federal Reserve put out a short white paper on the Silicon Valley Bank crash and the accounting for debt securities known as held-to-maturity or HTM.</li><li>It’s a nice short read and got me thinking about this issue again, which I examined back in May in Issue #100 (link below).</li><li>The question, which has not definitively resolved itself in academia or policy circles, centers around bank accounting and whether banks should be allowed to value bonds they’re not planning on selling (hence the term held-to-maturity) based on amortized cost.</li></ul>

The Boston Federal Reserve put out a short white paper on the Silicon Valley Bank crash and the accounting for debt securities known as held-to-maturity or HTM.It’s a nice short read and got me thinking about this issue again, which I examined back in May in Issue #100 (link below).The question, which has not definitively resolved itself in academia or policy circles, centers around bank accounting and whether banks should be allowed to value bonds they’re not planning on selling (hence the term held-to-maturity) based on amortized cost.

112: More Thoughts On Banks' HTM Portfolio; Boston Fed Paper

Financial sector veteran, KT Capital Group

Fern Wang

Financial sector veteran

KT Capital Group

Principal investments and advisory firm that focuses on connecting the CIS countries with East Asia.

Principal investments and advisory firm

Bank of America Corporation accepts deposits and offers banking, investing, asset management, and other financial and risk-management products and services.  The Company has a mortgage lending subsidiary, and an investment banking and securities brokerage subsidiary.

<ul>
<li>Unrealized HTM losses continued to balloon as interest rates crept higher.</li>
<li>What has caused SVB's demise seems to have now been forgotten and ignored by investors.</li>
<li>We took a deep dive into 3 U.S. Banks, First Foundation, Wells Fargo and Bank of America on their HTM losses.</li>
</ul>


Unrealized HTM losses continued to balloon as interest rates crept higher.
What has caused SVB's demise seems to have now been forgotten and ignored by investors.
We took a deep dive into 3 U.S. Banks, First Foundation, Wells Fargo and Bank of America on their HTM losses.


Investors Have Been Buried Their Head in The Sand on Billions of Unrealized HTM Losses

Head of Research and Global Chief Strategist, Steno Research

Andreas Steno

Head of Research and Global Chief Strategist

Macro and Geopolitical Research House

Steno Research

Steno Research is a new macro and geopolitical research house. We are based out of Copenhagen, Denmark, but have an international team and a strong network of sources and partners around the world. The team is lead by Andreas Steno, previous global head of strategy at Nordea Bank, and Mikkel Rosenvold, former chief consultant in the Danish Ministry of Finance.

Cross Asset Strategy

<ul>
<li>Regional banks are likely going to suffer more as the real estate market looks vulnerable</li>
<li>Some parts of the real estate market are back at 2008 levels</li>
<li>Western states have taken the largest beating, which is likely to continue</li>
</ul>


Regional banks are likely going to suffer more as the real estate market looks vulnerable
Some parts of the real estate market are back at 2008 levels
Western states have taken the largest beating, which is likely to continue


Real Estate Watch: More Charts on the Real Estate Outlook