Goldman taps debit-card partner - Morgan Stanley MD promotions - 7Park goes dark

And so it begins.

Earnings seasons for the big US banks kicks off today. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup are up first, all reporting today. Next week will be Bank of America and Goldman Sachs on Tuesday, followed by Morgan Stanley on Wednesday.

In case you missed it, we did a big preview of earnings based on conversations we had with analysts. Check it out here.

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Like the newsletter? Hate the newsletter? Feel free to drop me a line at ddefrancesco@businessinsider.com or on Twitter @DanDeFrancesco.

Vista Equity Partners is folding alt-data shop 7Park into another one of its portfolio companies just 2 years after buying it for $100 million

In late 2018, private-equity giant Vista Equity Partners purchased alt-data shop 7Park Data for $100 million. The investment was a nod toward the red-hot market for alternative data.

Fast forward just over two years, and Vista, long known for a strong track record of making stellar bets in the software space, is folding 7Park into Apptio, another one of its portfolio companies.

Get the full down on what went wrong to force Vista to shutter 7Park as a standalone alt-data business.

Click here to read the entire story.

Morgan Stanley just promoted 171 people to managing director. Here's a breakdown of the latest class.

There are 171 people at Morgan Stanley walking with an extra pep in their step. The big bank announced its latest class of new managing directors. We've got all the numbers on the latest class. Read more here.

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink: The idea that money managers like us are not heavily regulated 'must be coming from bankers'

BlackRock's earnings call took an interesting turn on Thursday, with CEO Larry Fink taking a defensive stance against questions around how asset managers are regulated. Get the lowdown here.

Goldman Sachs' Marcus is partnering with card issuer Marqeta for its upcoming checking accounts in another big win for the $4.3 billion startup

Goldman Sachs' Marcus has plans to roll out a checking account by the end of 2021. It just selected who it's partnering with to roll out its debit cards. Marqeta founder and CEO Jason Gardner explains how his startup won the big mandate. Read more here.

Odd lots:

Fintech startup Plaid has a slew of investors who won't get paydays now that Visa's $5.3 billion deal is off. And they say they're happy about it. (BI)

I sold Credit Karma to Intuit for $8.1 billion. It was the biggest decision of my career and taught me 4 important lessons. (BI)

Winklevoss Twins Consider Taking Gemini Crypto Exchange Public (Bloomberg)

Exclusive: Wells Fargo close to deal with buyout firms for asset management business - sources (Reuters)

Wall Street Fumes at 11th-Hour Rule From Trump Bank Watchdog (Bloomberg)

How a Harvard Law grad got 186,000 TikTok followers by teaching aspiring lawyers about landing a job at a big firm (BI)