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Zelle, the 7-year-old peer-to-peer payments service, has added another 178 banks and credit unions to its list of Zelle participants, the service announced Monday.
Zelle, launched in 2017 by Early Warning Services LLC, says this bumps to more than 2,300 the number of financial institutions that offer the service. Zelle had been available from participating banks and as a standalone app, too, but the app was discontinued in April in favor of the bank availability. Zelle launched in 2017 with more than 30 banks. Early Warning had operated a similar service called clearXchange, but changed the name of it to Zelle in 2016.
This latest group of new Zelle participants represents at least another 7.5 million bank and credit union accounts in 38 states, Zelle says.
Zelle notes that in 2024 dollar volume on its network totaled $1 trillion, a 27% increase from 2023.
In addition to growth in consumer use of Zelle, small businesses also are using the P2P payments service more. In April, Zelle said approximately 7 million small businesses were enrolled to make and receive payments. The average payment sent by small businesses was $640 in 2024 and the average received was $465 per transaction.
Earlier this year, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau dropped its lawsuit against Early Warning and co-defendants Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, over allegations of inadequate fraud protection for Zelle transactions. Early Warning welcomed that developmnet, arguing the suit lack justification.
