SunTrust Banks Inc. is testing an online alternative payments system from Moneta Corp.
The test began last month and now involves 75,000 customers, according to Hugh Gallagher, a SunTrust senior vice president for deposit product management.
Moneta uses proprietary software to process transactions using the automated clearing house system for settlement.
Customers participating in the pilot test can link their SunTrust accounts to Moneta and use the service to pay for goods and services at participating online retailers. Moneta's largest merchant partner is Delta Air Lines Inc.
"There has always been a fairly sizable part of the population, for a variety of reasons, who are not comfortable using cards over the Internet to make purchases," said Gallagher. More importantly, the Moneta system gives SunTrust an additional revenue stream connected to the demand deposit account.
Through the partnership, Moneta is positioning itself as a bank-friendly alternative payment vehicle, said Guido Sacchi, its chief executive. "We believe that banks can be a great engine of customer acquisition for us," he said.
Steve Karp, SunTrust's executive vice president of enterprise payments strategy, told people last month at the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum, sponsored by American Banker's publisher SourceMedia Inc., that the Atlanta banking company views alternative payment services as a way "to be defensive and at least try to get a few pennies back" from each transaction.
