Many of today's popular mobile banking apps will soon support a rapid person-to-person (P2P) payment feature through a new service called Zelle. Zelle, developed by Early Warning Systems, is supported by more than 30 of the nation's largest banks for sending funds from one person to another. There are already a handful of established P2P payment services, including Venmo and Square Cash. These services typically require a day or two for funds to actually transfer between accounts. Zelle claims it can move cash in mere minutes using only the recipient's email address or mobile phone number. Zelle's service will eventually be baked into mobile banking apps from the likes of Bank of America, Capital One, Citi, Citizens Bank, Fifth Third Bank, First National Bank, JP Morgan Chase, KeyBank, M&T, PNC Bank, TD Bank, U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo, and more than a dozen others. Zelle is, at its simplest, a network that runs in the background to connect various financial institutions around the country. It does not require a separate app download for consumers to use, though it will be up to individual banks to adopt the service. Zelle's functionality will be rolled out gradually over the next 12 months.


More...