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The news: Zelle significantly increased its network in late 2024 and early 2025, adding 178 financial institutions (FIs) in six months compared to just 69 the prior year, per American Banker. Our take: Zelle鈥檚 expansion goals are clear, but the fintech could hit a ceiling with smaller FIs if it doesn鈥檛 mitigate the concerns raised by Family First Credit Union. Ultimately, Zelle's long-term success hinges on balancing its drive for network ubiquity with robust protections and equitable partnerships for all participating FIs.

The news: Early Warnings Services鈥� Zelle submitted a letter in response to the Treasury Department鈥檚 request for information on paperless payment services. Our take: Winning this contract would dramatically boost Zelle鈥檚 payment volume, but it faces steep competition from incumbents and other structural roadblocks.

Truist is making significant strides in optimizing its digital onboarding process, prioritizing increased personalization and a smoother customer journey to attract new clients. This multi-pronged strategy includes enabling mobile ID verification to boost conversion rates among younger generations, seamlessly integrating new clients with services like direct deposit and Zelle to establish Truist as their primary bank, and allowing personalized mobile app dashboards. These digital improvements, supported by AI for feedback aggregation, aim to offset the impact of branch closures and meet the demand for digital convenience, particularly from Gen Z. Truist should amplify marketing efforts to highlight the ease and speed of their fully digital onboarding, emphasizing that no in-person ID verification is required.

Drawing from the example of banks鈥� response to the introduction of Venmo, Moynihan envisioned a Zelle-like consortium-driven institutional stablecoin as well as bank-specific applications. Our take: Bank of America鈥檚 tight underwriting standards鈥攊ts average credit cardholder FICO score is 777鈥攈ave created a strong stable of superprime cardholders to drive volume through tempting rewards offerings.

Zelle consortium banks have begun talks to issue an institutional stablecoin to increase interoperability across major financial institutions. Bank of America said it was considering launching its own stablecoin after stockpiling patents for blockchain technology. Our take: The GENIUS Act ushers in the clarity and legitimacy sought after by crypto players and traditional FIs alike.

The account also includes digital wallet and Zelle access, and there's no monthly maintenance fee if the parent has an eligible Huntington checking account. This can help the bank build strong relationships with teens so they remain customers in adulthood.

Banks are already striking back at fintechs by offering similar services of their own, like Zelle and Paze鈥攁nd someday, maybe even stablecoins. Fintechs鈥攑articularly payment fintechs鈥攆ace a rocky road ahead.

Zelle-owner Early Warning Systems and The Clearing House are mulling issuing a joint stablecoin. And PayPal is trying to increase adoption of its own stablecoin, PayPal USD. Our take: Stablecoin initiatives are generating buzz. Early adopters鈥攅veryone from the president鈥檚 family to the State of Wyoming鈥攚ant to get in on the ground floor to maximize their reward.

Looking forward, EWS should pull from its Zelle blueprint and expand beyond the owner-bank ecosystem to find growth opportunities. Paze now needs to convince users to reflexively flip between two wallets for ecommerce and in-person transactions. Converting primary loyalty from either Apple Wallet鈥檚 18.1 million users or Google Wallet鈥檚 12.4 million users will be a tough consumer behavior to build.

Zelle-owner Early Warning Services is reportedly toying with an institutional stablecoin to streamline traditional banking networks. Retailers like Amazon or Walmart are interested in stablecoins to avoid interchange fees at checkout.

Gen Zers favor Venmo, Apple Pay, and Zelle mobile wallets. Venmo鈥檚 social media roots keep its allure strong among younger consumers. And Gen Z鈥檚 preference for iPhones gives Apple Pay a big lead over other in-store wallets, such as Google Pay and Samsung Pay. But Gen Z has also embraced Zelle, as the bank-owned app keeps building a bigger share of peer-to-peer (P2P) transaction value and usage.

Other faster payment options like Mastercard Send, Same Day Automated Clearing House (ACH) payments, and Zelle are also helping to meet demand for quicker, more timely payments. Volume on the faster payment solutions has surged over the past year. FedNow鈥檚 launch has brought increased attention to real-time payments, but FIs remain uncertain about how to implement them.

The agency dropped its lawsuit against Zelle, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Wells Fargo. Vought also zeroed out the CFPB鈥檚 funding for the year and tried to fire 80% of the agency鈥檚 employees. But the open banking rule seemed to be on safer ground. It had received endorsements from congressional Republicans: Then-Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee Rep.

Discover has a highly rated app that supports mobile check deposits, Zelle transfers, and full account management. And Capital One and Discover just got the final green light to merge, which could mean this app鈥檚 technology will assist more customers.

They want banking regulators to look into how banks that offer Zelle protect consumers as fraud concerns grow.

The agency has dropped its lawsuit against Zelle and is expected to scrap its BNPL rule. Its rule to regulate apps like Apple Pay and Google Wallet as banks is also being undone by Congress.

Payment networks like Zelle, Venmo, and Cash App provide real-time payment options to consumers鈥攂ut they do not settle the funds. For example, Zelle typically credits transactions instantly to payees. But the actual settlement of funds occurs instantly only via the RTP network (if the sender鈥檚 and recipient鈥檚 banks both use it). Otherwise, transactions are settled later via ACH.

Since then, the agency has dropped its lawsuit against Zelle and is expected to scrap its open banking rule and its rule to regulate apps like Apple Pay and Google Wallet as banks. Our take: The decision to revoke this rule is a win for the BNPL fintechs, but it leaves the industry back at square one in terms of regulation. While BNPL has grown rapidly in recent years, regulation didn鈥檛 keep pace.