Wells Fargo is launching a person-to-person payment system based on the clearXchange service formed last year by a group of major banks.
Wells Fargo said May 24 that it is offering consumers a service it calls Send & Receive Money, which allows users to send money to someone else if they have that recipient's email address or mobile phone number. The payment can be initiated online or from mobile banking.
The recipient must be a customer of Wells Fargo or Bank of America, two of the banks behind the clearXchange system. The third founder is JPMorgan Chase (
ClearXchange replaced an earlier partnership between Wells and B of A called Pariter Solutions. The banks launched Pariter in May 2008 to facilitate automated clearing house transfers among participating banks. The banks shut down the Pariter venture shortly after they announced clearXchange (
Wells Fargo is offering the clearXchange service to all online banking customers that have a checking or savings account. Transfers to Wells accounts take one business day and transfers to B of A accounts take up to three. Wells does not charge a fee for these transfers.
"As mobile money transfer becomes more common, remembering multiple account numbers will be harder," said Brett Pitts, Wells Fargo's senior vice president at its Internet services group, in a press release. "Send & Receive Money allows customers to pay another person using information they typically either know or have programmed on their phone."
