August's Bank Forward connects four developments that don't seem related — until they do.

The common thread: much of the infrastructure community institutions depend on is changing around them — faster than most planning cycles anticipated.

July's Bank Forward connects four developments that don't seem related — until they do. A stablecoin issuer just got a federal bank charter. A 140-company consortium launched a new dollar-pegged stablecoin. A major core provider is in leadership turmoil while exploring the sale of a debit network serving 2,800+ institutions. And regulators delivered real relief for community banks — just as Klarna filed for its own charter.

June's three signals may seem unrelated at first glance, but together they point to one question: who will control the future movement of money, and what role will community banks and credit unions play in that future?

This month's Bank Forward is longer than usual — and the news earned it. AI is already being deployed as a digital workforce inside a regional bank. A fintech just acquired a national bank charter. An AI-native startup got OCC conditional approval to build a bank from scratch. And a crypto exchange has spent $2.7 billion in a year assembling the infrastructure banks depend on.

This month's Bank Forward is coming to you from Alkami Technology's Co:lab in San Diego — and the conversations happening here make every one of this month's signals feel especially timely: fintechs moving upmarket, consumer confidence at a 70-year low, and AI platforms quietly repositioning themselves around the customer relationship.

This month's Bank Forward looks at three changes landing all at once: the SBA rewrote the rules for small business lending, a crypto firm just joined the Fed's payment system, and regulatory relief is real — but only for institutions positioned to act on it.

This month’s Bank Forward looks at one big question: who controls deposits — and where they live next — as stablecoins, consolidation, and charter activity reshape the competitive landscape for community banks and credit unions.

January doesn’t usually feel this consequential—but a few early signals suggest 2026 may be defined less by growth headlines and more by positioning.