Acceleron lands First Federal to modernize international wire operations

Acceleron has partnered with First Federal, a western Oregon community bank, to streamline foreign exchange wire processing with same-day support, automated pre-validations and daily settlement reporting. The deal gives First Federal more visibility into pricing and reconciliation as it expands its digital banking roadmap.

Why it matters: - First Federal gets faster support for international wires, which can reduce delays, exceptions and reconciliation headaches for customers and staff. - The partnership also gives the bank more transparency into FX pricing and settlement as it works to modernize its digital banking tools. - The setup may help First Federal add online wire capabilities later without rebuilding its payments stack.

What happened: - Acceleron announced a partnership with First Federal to modernize the bank’s foreign exchange wire transfer operations. - First Federal is a community bank serving western Oregon. - The partnership includes same-day support, automated pre-validations and daily settlement reporting. - First Federal already used Fiserv Payments Exchange, which made implementation low lift.

The details: - Before the partnership, First Federal had limited access to real-time support when wire issues came up. - The bank’s operations team could have trouble resolving exceptions or answering pricing and reconciliation questions quickly. - With Acceleron, First Federal now has a direct point of contact for time-sensitive questions and same-day wire exception handling. - The bank has seen fewer FX wire exceptions because of automated validations. - The operations team now has clearer visibility into FX spreads and a daily settlement report. - Acceleron COO Elizabeth Downey said First Federal’s team can reach Acceleron directly, get answers the same day and escalate when needed. - Downey said Acceleron’s role is to help get every wire across the finish line and to help community banks streamline operations and earn non-interest income. - Implementation took a few meetings, about an hour of connection testing and roughly a week and a half before First Federal sent its first FX wire.

Between the lines: - The deal shows how community banks are using pre-integrated fintech tools to upgrade back-office operations without a major systems overhaul. - First Federal’s interest in maintaining its existing provider as a contingency suggests the bank wants redundancy while it modernizes international payments. - The bank’s broader roadmap includes online account opening, an upgraded consumer online banking platform and an upcoming business banking platform upgrade. - First Federal also plans to explore online wire capabilities for customers. - Herron said the relationship feels like a true partnership and that First Federal recommends Acceleron to banks seeking better vendor communication and transparency in foreign exchange wires.

What’s next: - First Federal plans to explore online wire capabilities as part of its modernization roadmap. - The bank is also interested in expanding its relationship with Acceleron when inbound international wire capabilities become available. - The bank expects to keep flexibility and redundancy during the transition by maintaining its existing provider as a contingency. - Acceleron says it serves more than 200 financial institutions and facilitates more than $1 billion in international payments annually. - Acceleron says its platform is pre-integrated with Fiserv Payments Exchange, Aptys, Pathfinder WITS and other payments platforms. - More information is available at Acceleron’s website.