Zelle, the bank-owned peer-to-peer payments app, saw a 10% increase in transaction volume from the first to the second quarter of 2023, according to a press release from parent Early Warning Services.
In Q2, the app facilitated 705 million transactions. And it moved a total of $197 billion, an increase in transaction value of 9% from Q1 2023.
EWS is owned by seven major banks: Bank of America, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC, Truist, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based company is privately held and doesn’t provide such numbers on a regular basis.
Fraud and scams related to the payments tool has attracted government scrutiny. The Consumer Finance Protection Bureau took aim at Zelle in June, first in comments made by CFPB director Rohit Chopra to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, and later in a report about scams targeting U.S. servicemembers.
EWS will be have a new CEO soon. The company said in mid-August that Cameron Fowler, most recently at BMO Financial Group, would take the post in October.
The company has also embarked on launching a new digital wallet called Paze. The new offering was launched in a pilot program in June and is expected to become widely available in the first half of next year.
“Our growth continues to be driven by community banks and credit unions, including MDI banks serving underserved communities, where we saw a 26% increase year-over-year,” the company said in an emailed statement.
