First Tech Credit Union Goes Live with Zelle
First Tech Federal Credit Union announced that the Zelle P2P service is live in its mobile banking app, enabling payments for more than 110,000 First Tech mobile banking members.
Zelle, powered by payments and risk management firm Early Warning, enables funds to be sent from one bank account to another typically in minutes, when both parties are enrolled, using only a recipient’s email address or mobile number.
“We are a credit union serving employees in the tech sector, so naturally our members have high expectations when it comes to their mobile banking experiences,” says Greg Mitchell, CEO, First Tech Federal Credit Union. The $10.6+ billion financial institution is based in Mountain View, Calif., and serves technology-oriented companies and their employees, including HP Inc., Microsoft, Intel, Cisco, Amazon, Intuit and Google.
In 1989, First Tech was one of the first banks and credit unions to offer online banking to its members, followed by a mobile banking solution in 2000, the credit union said.
The launch follows a Zelle report earlier this month that more than 50,000 consumers are enrolling in the service daily, contributing to more than 100 million real-time P2P payments, totaling $33.6 billion, in the first half of 2017.
Although the Zelle Network offers its own Zelle App that enables transfers to “almost anyone with a Visa or Mastercard debit card issued in conjunction with a U.S. bank account,” First Tech is deploying the technology inside its own mobile app.
Zelle is the banking industry’s answer to popular P2P services like Venmo, and it’s part of the larger nationwide push in the U.S. to deliver widespread real-time payments to consumers by 2020.
An August report from U.K.-based consutlancy Ovum, found that most banks see such immediate payments as a key revenue driver.
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