Brian Barnes, CEO of M1 Finance, a Chicago-based fintech that offers automated investing, borrowing and banking services, announced that he acquired First National Bank of Buhl, as an individual. The Minnesota-based institution employs 11 people.

Why should we care?
M1, like other fintechs that offer banking services, is likely looking to benefit from the economic and product incentives of becoming a bank. SoFi and LendingClub are two recent examples of fintechs acquiring banks to allow them to grow. Barnes, in a blog post, said M1 will “ideally own a bank in the future but has work to do before it’s ready to become a bank holding company.” Until then, M1 will rely on bank partners to support its banking products, since Barnes will own the bank as an individual. In the meantime, Barnes says he will commit to support the bank to better serve the local community; and invest in the bank’s capabilities to become a banking-as-a-service bank, primarily serving fintech clients such as M1. For now, the acquisition of the First National Bank of Buhl will have no impact on M1’s product offerings, but the company will “enhance current offerings and launch new, best-in-class banking products,” according to Barnes. In July, M1 Finance raised $150M in a SoftBank-led Series E fund raise, boosting its valuation to $1.45B.