Consumers and Small Businesses Trusted Zelle? to Send Nearly $2B per Day in Q1

At Early Warning? , our vision is to bring trust to the financial moments that matter. It’s something we’ve done for over 30 years across all our products and it’s something we’ll continue to do for decades to come.

As I approach my 4-year anniversary at the helm of Early Warning, and Zelle? approaches its 6-year anniversary since launch, I’d like to share some news about its growth during the first quarter of this year and examine why businesses and consumers are increasingly trusting us with their transactions.

Q1 Results: The Zelle Network? is Stronger than Ever

Zelle? allows banks and credit unions of all sizes to compete on equal footing with larger financial institutions. That's why Zelle? is now a part of the everyday lives of folks like Kevin. He runs his own construction and remodeling business in Charlotte, NC, and prefers Zelle? to other P2P payments services because, in his words, “The money goes boom! It’s in my account.”

I’m proud to share that, during the first quarter, consumers and small businesses alike trusted us to:

• Send nearly $2 billion per day: Close to $180 billion was sent using Zelle? in Q1, equaling almost $2 billion each day. That’s up 31% year-over-year.
• Enable 5,000 transactions per minute: Consumers and small businesses completed 639 million transactions, representing an increase of 29% year-over-year.

Credit Unions Have Helped Spark Growth

Credit unions accounted for almost half (46%) of all the financial institutions (FIs) that went live in Q1, bringing the total number of FI’s on the Zelle Network? to well over 1900.

Like Clark County Credit Union’s Chief Marketing Officer Shannon Hiller found, customers are clamoring for Zelle?: “Our members had been asking for Zelle? by name. They had family and friends transacting on the network. People wanted it.” In just the first 12 months since Zelle? implementation, Clark County CU saw close to 13,000 enrollments and $43 million sent. Their Zelle? transactions continued to grow at a rate of about 20% month-over month throughout 2022.

It’s clear that our user base for Zelle? is growing and ever-more engaged, and we are committed to continuing to bring trust to the financial moments that matter to them through strong fraud prevention and robust regulatory oversight and compliance.

We are Committed to Strong Fraud Prevention

According to Payments Journal, the rate of fraud for P2P services is lower relative to other forms of payment. Within the P2P ecosystem, Zelle? is among the lowest – and this is no accident.

Since launching Zelle? in 2017, Early Warning and our participating financial institutions have remained committed to protecting consumers through fraud and scam prevention, detection and mitigation. That commitment is reflected in the fact that more than 99.9% of the 5+ billion Zelle? payments since launch were sent without any report of fraud or scams – and through Q1 2023, this rate continued to improve.

Each institution, per our Zelle Network? Participation Rules, is required to utilize various authentication, fraud and risk tools, and to maintain adequate procedures to mitigate fraud and scams.

All must demonstrate before they join the network that they can meet these requirements, and we monitor performance closely. We’re encouraged by these outcomes and committed to continuously evolving and enhancing our consumer protection measures to address the dynamic nature of tactics employed by fraudsters.

As part of our work to fight these tactics, we have increased network-level controls to prevent bad actors from transacting on the Zelle Network? and reducing their run-time on the network. We routinely block high-risk enrollments from registering on the network and we diligently work to identify bad actors and remove them by restricting all tokens registered and blocking them from future enrollments. All our Zelle Network? participants are also recipients of real-time risk insights that help them make more informed payment decisions.

We are Subject to Robust Regulatory Oversight and Compliance

In addition to promoting high ethical standards and maintaining a strong compliance management system – including policies, procedures, testing and more – Early Warning Services and the Zelle Network? are subject to rigorous federal regulation and robust oversight by federal financial regulatory agencies.

Every single one of the 1,900+ financial institutions live on the network are chartered, regulated, and insured under U.S. banking laws. All of them are subject to supervision and regular examination on their compliance with the anti-money laundering laws and regulations by their prudential regulators.

This collective, network-wide commitment to fraud prevention and compliance is unparalleled in the P2P space – and it is the reason fraud and scam rates continue to go down while the Zelle Network? is growing across all key metrics – including now helping move a staggering nearly $2 billion per day. ?

As always, whether you’re a financial institution considering joining the purple wave, or a small business hoping to manage cash flow more efficiently, I love hearing from you. Leave a comment below or email me with your questions.

Until next time,

Al