Zelle

The bank hasn't explained why person-to-person payments, bill processing and account-transfer services went down for parts of two days this week. But observers suspect glitches in its legacy systems could occur at other financial institutions and increasingly affect real-time payment networks.

Financial institutions continue to push back against efforts to be held liable when a consumer is tricked into sending a payment that later turns out to be a scam.

The banks that own the peer-to-peer payment network are reportedly considering a retail launch that could fend off rival payment methods — or simply cannibalize the sizable revenue issuers get from credit and debit cards.

Transaction volume soared at the peer-to-peer service in the second quarter. That rising popularity among consumers, coupled with Zelle's relationships with a growing number of transaction rails, could make the network a vital hub in the U.S. push for speedier payments.

Blending its existing technology with new authentication measures, the company aims to cut costs for credit unions that don't want to join the bank-run peer-to-peer network.

Many financial institutions have made initial moves into real-time payments via P2P services, and the use cases will jump over time, says Fiserv's Matt Wilcox.

The person-to-person network is being used more often for purchasing, with consumer payments to small businesses up sharply.

Bank of America has seen a 33% increase in cash gifts flowing through the Zelle P2P app since the start of the pandemic, with total gifting volume reaching $1 billion.

Processing transactions quickly enough to serve digital commerce comes with arduous upgrades and complicated choices, but that's only the stick. The carrot is people like faster payments, so there's plenty of opportunities to boost payment revenue.

CO-OP, a credit union payments firm, has teamed with the fintech to expand usage of digital payments offerings. But it's unclear to what extent members want those services.