Evolve Bank & Trust

Is Evolve Bank & Trust safe?

If you bank with Evolve directly and stay under $250,000, your deposits are FDIC-insuredDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary. Beyond that, the record is poor. Evolve has been under a Federal Reserve cease-and-desist order since June 2024, it was one of the banks holding customer money when the fintech middleman Synapse collapsed that year, and a LockBit ransomware gang stole and leaked data on at least 7.6 million people from its systems. We score it 46/100, well below Chime at 62 and Varo at 60.

Who actually banks with Evolve?

Most people with money at Evolve never chose it. Evolve, based in West Memphis, Arkansas, has for years rented out its banking licence to fintech companies: apps that offer accounts, cards or payments but are not banks. The app shows you a balance; the money sits in pooled accounts at Evolve.

That matters for insurance. FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary cover for app users is pass-through. It works only if the accounts are set up for the customers' benefit and the records show what each person owns. If you are not sure whether your app uses Evolve, look for "Evolve Bank & Trust, Member FDIC" in its terms or on the back of your card.

What went wrong with Synapse

Synapse Financial Technologies kept the ledgers for apps such as Yotta and Juno, while Evolve, Lineage Bank and other banks held the money. When Synapse filed for bankruptcy in April 2024, its records did not match the banks', and the gap ran to tens of millions of dollars. Users were frozen out for months, and some got back only a small fraction of their balance. One lawsuit filed in 2025 says a Yotta user with $4,420 on screen received $3.46.

Evolve says it was not responsible for Synapse's ledger. Users and fintechs have sued it anyway, and the lawsuits argue that the banks failed to keep their own copy of who owned what. The lesson for anyone using a fintech app is simple: pass-through insurance protects you against the bank failing, not against a middleman losing track of your money.

The Fed order

On 14 June 2024 the Federal Reserve and the Arkansas State Bank Department announced a cease-and-desist order against Evolve Bancorp and the bank. Examiners had found in 2023 that Evolve lacked an effective risk management framework for its fintech partnerships, an unsafe and unsound practice, with weak anti-money launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary and consumer compliance programmes. The order bars Evolve from taking on new fintech partners or launching new products for existing ones without the supervisors' approval. In the Fed's enforcement database the order had not been terminated as of 2026.

Leadership has been unsettled too. A new chief executive hired in August 2025 to fix the bank was arrested in October 2025 on criminal charges the bank said were personal and unrelated to its operations, and the board dismissed him.

The 2024 ransomware attack

Attackers from the LockBit group got into Evolve's systems on 9 February 2024 after an employee clicked a malicious link. The bank did not discover the intrusion until 29 May. Evolve refused to pay a ransom, and LockBit published the stolen data. In July 2024 Evolve's lawyers told the Maine attorney general that 7.64 million people were affected, including customers of its fintech partners. Exposed data included names, Social Security numbers, account numbers and dates of birth. Evolve later agreed to settle the class actions.

Capital is the one strong point

Measure (30 June 2026)	Evolve Bank & Trust
Total assets	$1.19 billion (down from $1.81 billion, December 2024)
Deposits	$981 million
Uninsured deposits	about $400 million (41%)
CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary	17.7%
Leverage ratioLeverage ratioA bank's Tier 1 capital divided by its total exposures, without adjusting for risk. It is a simple backstop to risk-based capital rules.More in the glossary	12.9%
Net result, first half 2026	$0.9 million loss

On paper Evolve holds plenty of capital, nearly three times the 6.5% CET1 level that counts as well capitalised. Its losses are small. The weakness is funding: a large share of deposits is uninsured and comes from fintech programmes that can move quickly, and the bank lends out about 90% of its deposits.

How to protect yourself

• Find out which bank holds your app balance. If it is Evolve, keep only what you need for everyday spending there.
• Count every app that uses Evolve toward one $250,000 FDICDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary limit, since cover is per bank, not per app.
• Download statements regularly. In a Synapse-style failure, your own records are your best evidence of what you are owed.
• If you got an Evolve breach letter, freeze your credit with Equifax, Experian and TransUnion and watch for phishing using your account details.

How we scored it

Capital (60) is Evolve's strongest factor, thanks to a 17.7% CET1 ratioCET1 ratioA bank's highest-quality capital (mainly shares and retained profits) as a share of its risk-weighted assets. Higher means more room to absorb losses.More in the glossary. Digital security (25) is the weakest, for a breach that exposed Social Security numbers of millions of people, and conduct (30) reflects an open Fed order covering anti-money launderingAnti-money launderingThe rules and checks that stop criminals from moving illegal money through banks, payment firms and crypto exchanges.More in the glossary and fintech oversight. Deposit protectionDeposit insuranceA government-backed scheme that repays bank customers up to a set limit if their bank fails, such as the FDIC in the US or the FSCS in the UK.More in the glossary (55) and liquidity (50) are held back by the pass-through structure and a high share of uninsured, fast-moving deposits.