Rapid change defined the community banking landscape in 2025, as correspondent banking models evolved, cross-border payments modernized, and new questions emerged around stablecoins, AML, and regulatory oversight. These articles emerged as the most read and referenced Acceleron insights of the year, reflecting the real questions and priorities we heard repeatedly from community financial institutions nationwide.
Our annual deep dive into cross-border payments and correspondent banking trends tops the list. This 2025 edition takes a high level look at how correspondent banking technology, ISO 20022, blockchain experimentation, and shifting cross-border payment partnerships reshaped the different parts of the world, and the impact on community financial institutions.
Our monthly roundup of the most important developments in community banking proved consistently popular with readers in 2025. Each edition broke down what the news actually means for community financial institutions, with the latest issue covering the most significant shift in bank oversight in more than a decade, the penny crisis, and new federal guidance on tokenized deposits.
As stablecoins continued to move from fringe topic to boardroom discussion, this article broke down what stability actually means in practice. We explored risks, use cases, and why community banks should understand how stablecoins intersect with payments, liquidity, and regulation.
A foundational piece that resonated with compliance teams throughout the year. This article outlines the core components of a strong AML program and why each pillar matters more than ever as cross-border payments volumes grow and regulatory expectations evolve.
Following new legislative momentum, this article examined how the GENIUS Act could reshape the stablecoin landscape. We focused on what community banks should be paying attention to now, from potential opportunities to new compliance considerations.
This practical piece dives into real-world friction points community FIs experience when processing cross-border transactions, from data quality and manual entry to correspondent competition and profitability challenges, plus actionable fixes to improve speed, reliability, and revenue capture.
This unique interview with Dennis Lormel, Former FBI Chief of the Financial Crimes Program who tracked down the 9/11 terrorists, provides tactical insights from decades of financial crime investigations. Lormel’s perspective offers community banks a framework for spotting anomalies, leveraging transparency, and strengthening AML detection and defense.
What does modern AML leadership really look like inside a fast-moving payments environment? In this profile, Sarah Beth Felix, Co-Founder and Chief AML Officer at Acceleron, shares her candid perspective on financial crime risk, correspondent banking complexity, and leading with clarity in high-stakes compliance roles. Along the way, readers also get a glimpse of the Florida beach girl behind the title, grounding a demanding career in balance, resilience, and straight-talk practicality.
What does it take to modernize a bank’s core without breaking what already works? In this profile, Randy San Nicolas shares his approach to infrastructure, bank-fintech partnerships, and practical innovation, insights that connected with bankers navigating real-world modernization decisions. Along the way, he also reflects on his creative outlet as a songwriter, offering a reminder that building great banking technology requires both technical rigor and creativity.
Our ongoing monitor of global correspondent banking trends continued to be a go-to resource in 2025. The November edition covered SWIFT's blockchain ledger, Zelle and Visa's new stablecoin initiatives, and China and Europe's central bank digital currency ambitions.
As we look ahead to 2026, these themes will continue to shape the future of community banking. Cross-border payments, correspondent relationships, compliance modernization, and emerging payment rails are no longer niche topics, they are core strategic considerations.
Acceleron is a modern correspondent banking technology platform that empowers community banks and credit unions to automate international wire transfers, capture non-interest income, and compete more effectively with big banks. With a foreign exchange (FX) marketplace and currency conversion engine, Acceleron’s API-first infrastructure helps institutions turn cross-border payment flows into efficient, revenue-generating opportunities. Serving over 200 financial institutions and facilitating more than $1 billion in international payments annually, our correspondent banking services and international payment automation solutions are pre-integrated seamlessly with Fiserv Payments Exchange, Aptys, Braid, and other leading payments platforms.
Daisy Lin, Head of Marketing, Acceleron: 12/29/25 11:49 AM
The insights community banks turned to most in a year of rapid change, from tokenized desposits to international payment automation. Rapid change...
Daisy Lin, Head of Marketing, Acceleron: 12/16/25 9:52 AM
International wire automation, stablecoins, wallets, and AI reshape global money movement What a pivotal year in cross-border payments. No one...
Daisy Lin, Head of Marketing, Acceleron: 12/2/25 9:59 AM
New rules, no pennies, and next-generation rails: this month’s biggest banking news As the year winds down, the industry isn’t slowing. The Fed is...
Daisy Lin, Head of Marketing, Acceleron