Jack Henry & Associates Inc., which announced last week that it will offer a standalone person-to-person electronic payments service, becomes the second major payments processor to enter the P2P market.
The service, TheWayiPay, allows anyone in the United States with a bank account to send and receive money using their existing accounts.
TheWayiPay is accessible through financial institutions’ websites, and it leverages the same secure processing as online banking transactions. Payments can be made using the recipient’s name and e-mail. TheWayiPay deducts funds from the sender’s account and deposits the money into the recipient’s account in one-to-three business days.
iPay Technologies Inc., which Jack Henry & Associates purchased in June, will provide TheWayiPay. IPay’s P2P service is currently used by more than 2,150 financial institutions and has been available as an integrated component of its consumer and small business bill pay offerings.
Based on growing demand for P2P payment alternatives, iPay made a strategic decision. The company decided to offer TheWayiPay as a standalone product that operates independently of iPay’s traditional bill pay solutions. Bill Ready, president of iPay Technologies, said increased usage of online and mobile banking are creating a strong and growing demand for P2P as a next-generation payment solution.
IPay follows Fiserv Inc. into the P2P market.
In June, Fiserv, which is based in Brookfield, Wis., launched ZashPay, which also enables users to send or receive person-to-person payments from their online bank accounts.
Adil Moussa, an analyst with Aite Group LLC, a Boston-based consultancy, said large processors finally see a growing market for person-to-person payments.
“They realize the potential for P2P payments,” said Moussa, adding that it will take another five years before the service will reach a large scale similar to what already has occurred in Europe.
Jack Henry & Associates is a leading provider of ATM, debit card and ACH transaction processing services for financial services organizations. The company is based in Monett, Mo.
