Coastal Financial Corp., the holding company for Coastal Community Bank, has acquired the GreenFi brand of “climate-friendly consumer financial services” for an undisclosed sum, the company announced Friday.
Mission Financial Partners, the brand’s previous owners, will continue to operate and market GreenFi.
Everett, Washington-based Coastal, in turn, will continue to be a banking partner for GreenFi. The lender had provided banking services to GreenFi ever since it was part of the fintech Aspiration. Mission bought Aspiration’s spun-off consumer financial services unit in 2024 and rebranded it GreenFi in April 2025.
Coastal will assume responsibility for GreenFi’s “governance, oversight and long-term brand stewardship,” the bank said Friday.
“Acquiring the GreenFi brand gives Coastal full control over a mission driven consumer financial products offering in an area of increasing consumer demand,” Coastal CEO Eric Sprink said in a statement.
The deal opens the door for potential growth “whether through continued partnership, deeper integration, or expanded product offerings,” Sprink added.
Existing customers will not see any changes to their accounts, services or GreenFi product access, Coastal said, adding that terms and customer support also will not change.
“This deepens a relationship that has been successful for both organizations,” Mission CEO Tim Newell said in a statement. “We will continue to focus on operating the GreenFi program, building products, and delivering a strong customer experience.”
It wouldn’t be the only time so far this year that a bank has chosen to acquire a previous financial partner. U.S. Bank on Tuesday said it would acquire financial services firm BTIG in a deal worth up to $1 billion. BTIG had previously served as U.S. Bank’s equity capital markets referral partner since 2014. The firms launched a mergers-and-acquisitions advisory referral program in 2023.
“The deal may offer economic synergies, as [Coastal] was likely paying GreenFi for deposits under the prior structure,” Raymond James analysts wrote in a Monday note seen by Banking Dive.
But “ownership of a consumer-facing brand introduces the potential for perceived conflicts of interest with existing or prospective fintech partners,” the analysts added. “This risk represents a key unknown.”
Overall, however, Raymond James “view[s] this acquisition as a measured step up the value chain for Coastal’s [banking-as-a-service] platform,” the analysts said.
Coastal’s BaaS business saw some trouble last year, when the bank identified a material weakness in the internal controls related to the financial reporting of interest income and banking-as-a-service expenses for certain loans.
Coastal’s audit committee determined last year that while the accounting errors had no impact on consolidated pre-tax income, net income or retained earnings, they caused an overstatement of assets and liabilities on the balance sheet.
In addition to GreenFi, Coastal has an active partnership with fintech Dave.
Aspiration, meanwhile, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last March. Its co-founder, Joe Sanberg, has since pleaded guilty to two charges of wire fraud.