Banks Aim To Compete with P2P Pioneers

The Washington Post recently reported that “It’s finally getting easier to send and receive money electronically,” citing the increased transfer-processing frequency initiated by the Automated Clearing House (ACH) as a move that will open doors to banks interested in entering the P2P space.  ACH will now process transfers multiple times a day instead of only once, an upgrade to the “1970s-era technology that banks use to transfer money securely to other financial firms,” a move that should provide same day access to funds sent or received.

P2P has been dominated by start-ups like ETA members Venmo and PayPal, but the big banks such as Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Capital One and U.S. Bank aim to get into the game using the clearXchange app, soon to be rebranded as “Zelle”, which will allow users to transfer money direct to or from bank accounts, without the same-bank-only transfer barriers that exist today.

Conscious of the completion banks may represent, P2P powerhouses are entering into partnerships with card brands, for example PayPal and MasterCard, who will work together to accelerate P2P cash-out speeds, and are also expanding their FinTech reach through increasing opportunities for PayPal as a go-to in-store check-out option. Read more on the latest PayPal MasterCard partnership here.