US Banks Launching Answer To Peer-To-Peer Payment App Venmo (reuters.com)

The U.S. banking industry is about to launch its answer to the popular mobile payments app Venmo. "Over the next week, five of the largest U.S. banks will light up their segments of a new payments network called Zelle, executives said in interviews," reports Reuters. "They plan to announce details of the launch on Monday, and expect another two dozen banks and credit unions to join over the next year." From the report: The long-awaited network will allow tens of millions of bank customers to send money to each other instantly - known as person-to-person payments - with a few taps on their smartphones. That is an improvement over Venmo, which immediately alerts users that a money transfer is in progress, but takes time to shift funds between bank accounts. Customers who use existing bank payment apps may not notice much of a change beyond marketing. Transfers will simply happen faster because the banks are finally linking to each other, executives said. JPMorgan, Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co, U.S. Bancorp and Capital One Financial Corp will be the first to plug into Zelle.

Comments

Re:Amazing they took this long

[whoever57]

The US banking sector is way behind what is available in most European countries.

For years, people in the UK have been able to make payments direct (and near instantaneous) to another bank account with no fees.

The simple fact is that all the alternative payment methods involve costs that the banks must absorb. A simple and highly automated, customer-driven payments system reduces the banks' costs. This type of system is a win for banks even if there are no fees involved.