STOCKTON, Calif.-A new project aims to take real-time, person-to-person financial transfers beyond the realm of online banking and move them to the ATM.
P2P real-time transfers-the brainchild of Paul Yang, CEO at Premier Community CU here-is one of three finalists for the second annual CO-OP THINK Prize, the winner of which will be announced this week.
The concept relies on the extensive number of members who use the CO-OP network of ATMs each day.
"If you have a CO-OP card and I have a CO-OP card, I should be able to transfer from my card to your card in real time," said Yang, whose project revolves around creating a secure database that connects card numbers with e-mail addresses or cell phone numbers, allowing users to instantaneously transfer funds from one account to another using just that information.
"Within the ATM profile I'd just choose a person-to-person transfer and instead of making withdrawal, I make a transfer to your account," explained Yang.
Whereas transfers between different institutons generally take two days or more, using the CO-OP network would eliminate such delays, said Yang.
No Cost Projections
Yang does not have projections for costs related to his proposal, but noted that much of the necessary technology is already in place. "The only thing CO-OP would need to do is tie in a card number with an account number or some sort of cardholder username-an e-mail address or cellphone number. ... The rest of it you just create a routing point from point A to point B; you take the money away from credit union A and credit it to credit union B where the recipient gets the money."
The project also has potential to expand. While ATMs are phase one, Yang said that expansion to mobile is a possibility, utilizing internet banking technology in concert with the CO-OP Network. It could also be expanded to include person-to-merchant transfers similar to PayPal.
"PayPal is used by merchants all over, as well as for person-to-person transfers," said Yang. "What we're doing is taking PayPal's idea and instead of using ACH, we're using ATM networks."
He added that for person-to-merchant use, "the online merchants would be easer to use, but ... I don't see why it couldn't be used at 7-Eleven, for example."
Should his idea win the $10,000 prize, Yang said that he suspects it could be ready to launch within a year or less.
"It all depends on how much you input into this, but I think it can be done within six months," he said. "The infrastructure is already there; we just need to work out the little details of the ATM screen changes, the menu changes, the creation of the database and the programming. I think it can be done in six months, and not more than 12 months."
