The Quarterly Review: How Zelle’s GM Denise Leonhard scaled beyond $1 trillion through customer growth and 2,300+ financial institution partnerships

Notes from the desk: Welcome to this month’s Quarterly Review, a series where I dive into what executives from some of the best brands in financial services are focusing on in this quarter, as well as how they are planning to achieve their goals. It’s a chance for the industry to learn about what goes on behind an FI’s four walls and how leadership manages their priorities. 

It seems like only yesterday I was trying to figure out how a series like this could work from a financial services journalism point of view. But its already been more than year since The Quarterly Review launched and we have had some really powerful voices join us on the chair. Executives from fintechs like Acorns, Current, Public, and Zelle, as well as leaders from banks like JPMC, Citizens, Laurel Road, and Fifth Third have joined us on the hot seat to share stories of growth, challenges, and resilience.

In this edition we will check back in with Zelle’s GM, Denise Leonhard.

Executive Summary

When I spoke to Zelle’s GM Denise Leonhard in January, she had her sights set on helping Zelle grow beyond $1 trillion in transaction volume. She planned to do this by focusing on expansion and improvement:

1. Expand the number of banks on the Zelle network. 
2. Improve product reliability, UX, and features to meet the financial needs of more consumers and SMBs.

Seven months later, Leonhard is back to report that Zelle has successfully moved past the $1 trillion mark while significantly growing its partner network and customer base along the way. 

The Full Review