Fiserv Inc. today launched ZashPay, which enables users to send or receive person-to-person (P2P) payments from their online bank accounts.
"Sending money to other people just got a whole lot easier," said Eric Litch, senior vice president and general manager of consumer services for Fiserv, which is based in Brookfield, Wis. "Anyone with a bank account can use ZashPay to send money across the room or across the country."
Consumers can access ZashPay through the websites of participating financial institutions, Litch said. So far, more than 200 financial institutions have committed to ZashPay, he added.
Two of the companies are the San Diego County Credit Union and The Golden 1 Credit Union, which is based in Sacramento, Calif.
"ZashPay is a convenient and easy-to-use person to person electronic-payment service," said Tum Vongsawad, interim president and CEO of the San Diego Credit Union.
Paul Sidhu, vice president of IT Development & Support at Golden 1, said ZashPay reduces members' need to carry cash or mail checks. Fiserv suggests financial institutions charge customers 50 cents to send money, but banks and credit unions are free to determine how much they want to charge members or accountholders.
If a consumer's financial institution does not offer ZashPay, he can logon onto ZashPay.com, a public website. He can use his existing bank account to send money. ZashPay.com charges clients 75 cents per transaction to send funds.
Fiserv processes online bill-payment transactions for more than 3,100 financial institutions, including most of the nation's largest banks and credit unions.
Fiserv's entry into the P2P market means financial institutions view the service as a new revenue source, said Ron Shevlin, senior analyst for Aite Group LLC, a Boston-based consultancy. Banks and credit units also are responding to the needs of their customers, Shevlin added.
"Banks are very late to this market," he said. "PayPal legitimized the P2P market more than a decade ago, and now some banks have realized its potential because fewer people are writing checks and carrying cash."
