Zelle Posts $39 billion in P2P Payments on a 72% Transaction Increase

The bank-sponsored Zelle person-to-person payment service continued on its growth trajectory in the first quarter, with transaction volume up more than 70% and payment volume rising more than 50%.

Zelle provider Early Warning Services LLC reported Wednesday that first-quarter payment volume hit $39 billion, a 54% increase from just over $25 billion a year earlier. Transaction volume grew 72% to 147 million from 85 million in 2018’s first quarter. The latest numbers also represent respective increases of 11% and 9% from $35 billion in volume and 135 million transactions in 2018’s fourth-quarter.

Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Early Warning is owned by a number of the nation’s biggest banks, which linked their existing P2P services into the Zelle system when it went live in June 2017. The service also is available to smaller banks and credit unions through third-party processors. Zelle is now live in the banking apps of 107 financial institutions, with 377 more institutions under contract, an Early Warning spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News.

In addition, customers of non-Zelle financial institutions can use the service by downloading the Zelle mobile app and registering a debit card. In all, customers of 5,391 banks and credit unions are using the service, Early Warning says.

“This past quarter, Zelle achieved several milestones towards our goal of nationwide ubiquity,” Lou Anne Alexander, group president of payments solutions at Early Warning, said in a news release. “Our core-processor partners have achieved tremendous results, signing more than 130 banks and credit unions in Q1. In addition, our new marketing campaign was launched, tapping into everyday use cases of Zelle, designed to drive deeper knowledge and relevance with consumers.”

The campaign, dubbed “Everyday Better,” is running in digital and social media and in movie theaters, and also features advertising at transit stations and on billboards, the spokesperson says.

PayPal Holdings Inc., owner of the Venmo P2P service that competes with Zelle, is scheduled to release its first-quarter financial and operational report late Wednesday. Venmo posted volume of $19 billion in the fourth quarter, up approximately 80% from the same period in 2017.