- Supporting data: Chime reported $596 million in fourth-quarter revenue, representing a 25% year-over-year increase.
- Expert quote: JPMorgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang noted that the fourth-quarter results came in “ahead of expectation as high-quality [customer growth] supports engagement and monetization.”
- Forward look: Following a strong fourth quarter, Chime anticipates achieving GAAP profitability in 2026.
Overview bullets generated by AI with editorial review
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Chime Financial reported strong fourth-quarter and full-year earnings Wednesday evening, beating analyst expectations and setting up to reach profitability in 2026 while expanding its product suite to include new Trump-branded children’s investment accounts.
The San Francisco-based digital bank posted $596 million in fourth-quarter revenue, a 25% year-over-year increase, and an adjusted EBITDA of $57 million.
The company is leaning heavily into new products like its proprietary core processor, its credit card, and so-called Trump Accounts to sustain momentum.
For the U.S. banking industry, Chime’s continued growth and lower operating costs pose a competitive threat as the digital bank captures market share in primary checking accounts and wades into the nascent Trump Account program that traditional banks are also targeting.
Financial performance and outlook
Chime beat fourth-quarter Wall Street consensus estimates, which had projected roughly $578 million for revenue and $46 million for adjusted EBITDA, based on 13 analyst estimates collected by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
The company reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $44.8 million (a net earnings per share of -$0.12) and a full-year net loss of $1.01 billion.
The full-year net loss was heavily driven by $928 million of stock-based compensation expense and related payroll taxes linked to the company’s initial public offering. However, the company generated $2.19 billion in full-year revenue, up 31% from the previous year, and reached an adjusted EBITDA of $127 million.
Chime issued full-year 2026 guidance projecting revenue between $2.63 billion and $2.67 billion and an adjusted EBITDA of $380 million to $400 million.
Analyst expectations for the next year align with this guidance; the consensus mean revenue expectation is $2.64 billion and EBITDA at $387 million, according to S&P’s analysis.
Chime expects “to achieve GAAP profitability in 2026,” according to a Wednesday press release, and analysts agree, expecting $65 million in net income in the coming year.
Analysts applaud the results
Stock analysts tracking the company praised the earnings report, noting that Chime’s underlying growth metrics look healthy.
“This was a ‘show me’ quarter for investors, and Chime delivered,” according to a Wednesday research note from Piper Sandler senior research analyst Patrick Moley.
JPMorgan analyst Tien-tsin Huang said the fourth-quarter results came in “ahead of expectation as high-quality [customer growth] supports engagement and monetization,” according to a Thursday report.
Huang noted that Chime’s member growth of 500,000 for the quarter “came in better than anticipated while revenue and EBITDA were nicely ahead of estimates.”
B. Riley Securities analyst Hal Goetsch wrote that the company saw a “solid beat” and issued 2026 guidance “well ahead of our estimates,” according to a Thursday note.
Leaning into Trump Accounts
Chime is also pushing to capture a piece of the new Trump Accounts program.
Created by the Working Families Tax Cuts under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the program allows parents to open traditional individual retirement accounts for their eligible children. The federal government will provide a one-time $1,000 seed deposit for eligible children born between 2025 and 2028, and individuals and employers can contribute up to $5,000 annually.
During his State of the Union address, President Donald Trump described the program as providing “tax-free investment accounts,” but financial planners point out that the accounts actually function like traditional IRAs, meaning pretax funds and earnings will be subject to regular income taxes upon withdrawal.
To capture this market, Chime integrated the enrollment process — IRS Form 4547 — directly into its tax filing app to make the accounts “more accessible for working families,” according to a Feb. 13 press release from the company. The company also pledged to match the $1,000 government contribution for the eligible children of its own employees.
Other financial institutions are jumping in, as well. Banks and investment firms including JPMorganChase, BlackRock, SoFi, Charles Schwab, and BNY have announced programs to match employee contributions to the accounts.
Chime now on its own core
Chime finalized a multiyear migration to its proprietary payment processor and ledger, ChimeCore, in the fourth quarter of 2025.
The digital bank is “now 100% on our own tech stack,” said Christopher Britt, CEO of Chime, during the Wednesday earnings call. Britt noted that the new system differentiates Chime from traditional banks and other financial technology companies that rely on inflexible and expensive third-party processors.
Company executives expect the migration to reduce transaction processing costs by roughly 60%, which supports a long-term gross margin target of 90%, according to a Wednesday press release from Chime.
As part of the transition, Chime moved all member accounts to ChimeCore on Nov. 4 and ceased using its former third-party processor, Galileo. The company incurred an approximately $32.7 million one-time termination fee during the fourth quarter to sever the agreement, though the contractual relationship will technically continue until March 2026, according to a November financial filing from the company
Other major developments
During the fourth quarter, Chime also pushed into the corporate benefits space, launching Chime Enterprise to provide fee-free financial tools and earned wage access to employees at companies like Cedarhurst Senior Living, eXp Realty and Lakeshore Recycling Systems.
In the sports world, Chime secured sponsorships to feature its logo on the jerseys of the Portland Fire women’s basketball team and became the official retail banking partner of Major League Soccer.
The company reorganized its executive ranks in December, promoting Mark Troughton to president, Janelle Sallenave to chief operating officer and Vineet Mehra to chief growth officer.