Zelle usage grows, propelled by consumers and small businesses
- The pandemic acts as a tailwind for digital payments.
- Zelle, the P2P payment network owned by incumbent banks, is seeing growth in most metrics.
The pandemic is proving to be a tailwind for digital payments.
Early Warning Services, the network operator behind Zelle, announced $133 billion was sent through the Zelle Network on 519 million
transactions during the first six months of 2020.
“Zelle has become an everyday essential service for consumers who need to send and receive money fast,” said Lou Anne Alexander, Chief Product Officer at Early Warning. “Consumers across all generations have embraced Zelle during these challenging times as a contact-free way to safely exchange funds.”
The numbers
- Physical distancing requirements continue to drive adoption of Zelle. Enrollment grew 17% over the prior year.
- Active sender usage, which refers to the people who have sent a payment in the past 90 days, increased 43% year-over-year.
- Average transactions sent per user increased 10% year-over-year
- Network-wide payment transaction values increased by 60% year-over-year, while payment transaction volume increased by 63%.
924 financial institutions are connected to the Zelle Network, with
more than half online today and processing transactions.
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Small businesses getting on Zelle
Zelle is making a push into getting small businesses to use it for payments.
Currently, seven financial institutions -- Bank of America, Chase, Citi, Frost Bank, FirstBank, Morgan Stanley, and U.S. Bank -- make Zelle available to their small business clients. Property owners and service providers accept Zelle from their customers. Businesses also use Zelle to make disbursements and pay employees and contractors.