Zelle, the person-to-person payments network launched by Early Warning, reported today that it processed 170 million transactions in 2016, proving what the fintech majority already knows: consumers really like person-to-person payments, and the simpler, the better.
Harnessing the consumer-acquiring power of P2P has been a goal for financial institutions since the arrival of Venmo, and the effects of Zelle’s first year operating in the space are certainly promising.
The total value for these transactions was $55 billion, according to the company (Venmo processed $17.6 billion last year, as a standalone app).
Jeremiah Glodoveza, vice president of industry marketing, Early Warning Services, told Bank Innovation:
The impressive transaction value total reflects the continued preference U.S. Consumers have for the security and convenience of conducting P2P transactions within the mobile banking environments of their financial institutions. Already, consumers of the banks who have implemented aspects of the Zelle experience are benefitting from payments funds availability within minutes, a simplified user experience within their mobile banking app, and again, the security of their FI.
Zelle currently partners with more than 20 financial institutions, three of which (Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and U.S. Bank) have embedded Zelle’s services into their own mobile apps, with others expected to follow suit in the second quarter of this year.
According to Glodoveza, however, the 170 million transactions are representative of all of the FIs on the network, which also includes banks like Capital One, BB&T, and JPMorgan Chase.
At the moment, Zelle’s capabilities are white-labeled into the BofA, Wells, and U.S. Bank apps; a Zelle-branded presence of the service will begin appearing in the network later this year for all participating partners.
P2P fans should also look out for the release of Zelle’s standalone app, scheduled to make its debut this year, which will allow the service to reach consumers who are not presently banking with any of Zelle’s partners.
Glodoveza told Bank Innovation:
Already, we expect to reach 85 million consumers with our partners. The standalone Zelle app gives us the potential to reach millions more who don’t bank with one of our partners, or choose to use both our app, and that of the banks’. The result for consumers is a widespread, viable alternative to situations requiring checks or cash.