How Zelle Has Become a Key Part of BofA’s Digital Interaction Strategy

Bank of America Corp. customers using Zelle initiated a record 1.6 billion transactions totaling $470 billion in 2024. Transaction volume increased 25%, and dollar volume 26%, last year compared to 2023.

Zelle has become more popular than checks as a payment method, with Zelle transactions nearly triple the number of checks written by BofA customers during the fourth quarter of 2024, the bank added.

BofA is one of seven banks that own Early Warning Services, which operates the Zelle person-to-person payments network.

The growth in Zelle volume is part of an overall increase in digital interactions BofA is having with its customers. In 2024, the number of these digital interactions reached 26 billion, a 12% increase from the same period a year ago, BofA says.

These interactions are central to BofA’s “relationship-driven strategy,” Nikki Katz, head of digital for BofA, says in a statement. Digital interactions are communications or engagements that occur through digital technologies, such as a Web site or an app, and include account log-ins and proactive alerts sent to customers.

“Clients have increasingly been engaging with digital for a number of years now,” says Katz an email message. “Our clients now use digital for the vast majority of their day-to-day banking, and will go into a financial center when they want to have a conversation about their needs and goals with a financial specialist.”

In addition to the increase in Zelle usage, BofA announced its corporate customers made more than $1 trillion in payment approvals using its CashPro App, a more than 25% increase from 2023.

Bank of America’s digital-banking platform, CashPro counts 550,000 users at 40,000 companies globally.

BofA added its customers interacted 676 million times last year with Erica, the bank’s artificial intelligence-driven virtual financial assistant. Overall, consumers have interacted with Erica 2.5 billion times since its launch in 2018.

“Erica serves a dual role in our clients’ lives: a personal concierge and mission control for their finances, helping them make everyday financial decisions more efficiently,” Katz adds.

A record 37.6 million customers opted to receive proactive digital alerts in 2024, a 7% year-over-year increase. BofA sent nearly 12 billion digital alerts to those customers in 2024, up 11% from a year ago. Alerts about account balances and virtual debit card usage were the most common, according to BofA.

BofA customers logged into their accounts 14.3 billion times during 2024. Of that total, 3.9 billion logins were recorded during the fourth quarter, up 16% from the same period in 2023. BofA customers logged into their accounts more than once a day, on average.