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For M&A Brokers · Bank & Credit Union Deals

Give your client a read on the target's digital front door, before anyone finds the gaps the hard way.

The M&A Signal Report runs our 45-signal Borrower Friction Index against the bank or credit union your client is evaluating, ranks every finding by severity, and includes a live session where we walk your broker team through the results and take questions. Built on the same methodology behind our research of 111 Texas banks and credit unions.

Reserve a Spot What's Included
111 Texas banks and credit unions ($1B–$10B in assets) already scored with this exact methodology.
The M&A Signal Report
45 signals, ranked by severity, run against the target institution
30-minute live session, capped at 3 attendees
Public signals only. No access to the target needed
14-day standard delivery, 7-day rush available
$3,500 Fixed fee · limited to 8 delivered per month
What Due Diligence Usually Misses

Financials get audited. The digital front door doesn't.

Every deal runs the loan portfolio, the deposit base, and the regulatory history through rigorous review. Almost nobody checks what a borrower or member actually experiences trying to open an account or apply for a loan online, today, at the institution being acquired. That gap does not disappear at close. It becomes your client's problem on day one.

Slower conversion than modeled

If the target's online application is quietly losing qualified applicants today, that friction is now baked into your client's post-close numbers.

Compliance gaps found after signing

Missing disclosures, absent NMLS IDs, and other compliance signals are visible on the public website right now, before anyone has to file an exam finding.

Fraud exposure already visible

Weak identity verification, exposed contact paths, and other fraud-adjacent signals are observable from the outside and easy to miss in traditional diligence.

Built On Real Research, Not Guesswork

The same diagnostic already run against 111 Texas banks and credit unions.

The Borrower Friction Index scores a bank or credit union's public digital lending and account-opening presence across 45 signals, built entirely from what a borrower, member, or fraudster can already see. We have scored 111 Texas institutions between $1B and $10B in assets with this exact methodology. The M&A Signal Report applies the same rigor to a single acquisition target, on your timeline.

111
institutions scored
45
signals across 4 domains
6.9
avg critical gaps per institution
23%
carry 10 or more critical gaps
What's Broken vs. What Works

86% of every signal checked came back as friction, not a pass.

Green · 237 signals Critical + warning · 1,460 signals

73% of institutions, 81 of 111, passed nothing at all: no functioning call to action, no published rates, no compliance disclosure. If your target hasn't been checked yet, the base rate says assume it's one of the 81.

Who's Worse

Banks perform significantly worse than credit unions.

Banks8.2 critical
Credit Unions4.1 critical

Average friction score: 31.5 for banks vs. 17.2 for credit unions. Brokering a bank acquisition specifically? Budget extra diligence time here, not just an average expectation.

What's Included

Everything in your M&A Signal Report

All 45 Borrower Friction Index signals run against the target institution's live public presence: website, application paths, and social channels.
Every finding scored critical, warning, functional, or no detectable signal, organized across website friction, fraud indicators, compliance gaps, and social media gaps.
Findings written as observation, cost, and cause, ready to drop into your deal memo or investment committee packet.
A 30-minute live video session, capped at 3 attendees, to walk through every finding and answer questions.
Delivered as a single, sharable report. Nothing to install and nothing for the target institution to grant access to.
Critical Warning Functional No Detectable Signal
M&A Signal Report cover page, shown on a laptop screen
A fictionalized M&A Signal Report built on a hypothetical target, "AmericaFirst Bank," shown to illustrate report format and depth. Every real M&A Signal Report is built from your named target's own public signals.
How It Works

From reservation to debrief

1

Reserve your spot

Tell us the name of the institution being acquired at checkout. That's the only information we need to start.

2

We run the diagnostic

All 45 signals, scored from publicly available information only. No login, no access, and no contact with the target institution.

3

You get the report

Delivered within your chosen window, ranked by severity and ready to bring into your deal materials.

4

We walk your team through it live

A scheduled video session, capped at 3 attendees, where we cover every finding and answer questions.

About The Researcher

Shanelle Roberts

Shanelle Roberts, founder of Smart Chic Systems

Shanelle Roberts is a customer acquisition researcher and systems designer based in Waco, Texas. Twenty years in product and systems design across T-Mobile, Wilmington Trust, M&T Bank, Microsoft, Expedia, and the UN World Food Programme, including two and a half years inside a regional bank where she led the design team that built the first secure digital payment experience for an institution where fraud had cost mid eight figures across three prior years.

She holds a U.S. Utility Patent from T-Mobile and designed the iOS version of Scam Shield, which stopped over two billion robocalls in its first eighteen months.

That combination, design and technology systems experience paired with time spent inside a regional bank's own fraud and payments problem, is what the Borrower Friction Index is built on. It reads an institution's public presence the way a systems designer would, not the way a marketing consultant would, which is why brokers use it to see what due diligence usually misses.

Smart Chic Systems, Inc. is based in Waco, Texas. Every engagement is delivered in the United States by American citizens. No offshore analysts.

More about Shanelle →  ·  LinkedIn →

Reserve Your Spot

The M&A Signal Report

$3,500 Fixed fee · standard 14-day delivery
  • Full 45-signal Borrower Friction Index diagnostic on the target institution
  • Every finding ranked by severity across all 4 BFI domains
  • 30-minute live video session, capped at 3 attendees
  • No access needed from the target institution or your client
Available At Checkout
Async Video Walkthrough
A narrated video walking through the target's website screen by screen: what's working, and exactly where the digital front door has gaps. Also expands your live debrief from 30 to 60 minutes.
+$3,000
Rush Delivery
Move from the standard 14-day delivery to 7 days, for time-sensitive deals.
+$2,000

Both add-ons count toward the same monthly delivery cap as the base report. Adding one never costs you a second spot.

Reserve Your Spot · From $3,500
Limited to 8 M&A Signal Reports delivered per month, including add-ons, to protect the depth of every report.
Delivered within 14 days of your confirmed start date, 7 days with rush, or a full refund. The guarantee covers the report, the video walkthrough if you added it, and the live session. It does not cover disagreement with findings, and it assumes the target institution has a public digital presence to observe in the first place.
Questions

Before you reserve a spot

Will the target institution know we're doing this?
No. Everything is built from what's publicly visible: their website, application paths, and social channels. There is no contact with the target institution, no login, and no account created anywhere.
Do you need access to the target's internal systems?
No. The Signal Report is built entirely from public signals, the same approach behind every Signal Report we deliver. No IT ticket, no sandbox, and nothing required from your client or the target.
Can you sign our NDA?
Yes. Since the deliverable only draws on publicly available information, signing an NDA around the engagement itself is straightforward. Email [email protected] after reserving your spot and we'll get it signed before work starts.
Is this specific to Texas institutions?
No. The methodology was built and validated against 111 Texas banks and credit unions, but it applies to any regional bank or credit union with a public digital lending or account-opening presence, anywhere.
What if the deal changes or falls through after we order?
Email us as soon as you know. If work hasn't started yet, we can redirect the report to a different target within the same month at no charge. Once the diagnostic is underway, our standard delivery guarantee applies.
Who can join the live session?
Up to 3 people from your broker team. We keep it capped so the session stays focused and interactive rather than a big crowd.
Why only 8 per month?
Every report is built on a standardized process, then reviewed institution by institution before it goes out. Capping delivery at 8 a month, including any with the video walkthrough add-on, is what keeps that review sharp instead of rushed.
Not Ready To Reserve Yet?

Ask a question before you commit

Tell me about the deal and what you need to see, and I'll reply directly. No account team, no gatekeeping — every message reaches me.

We never sell your information. Prefer email? Reach me directly at [email protected].

Ready When You Are

Reserve your M&A Signal Report

$3,500 fixed fee. 14-day standard delivery, 7-day rush available. Limited to 8 delivered per month.

Reserve Your Spot

Prepared by Shanelle Roberts — LinkedIn. Questions first? Email [email protected].