RANCHO CUCAMONGA, Calif. – Saying physical distancing and remote working have made the adoption of person-to-person payments by credit unions more essential than ever, CO-OP Financial Services said it is partnering with Zelle to offer P2P payments to credit unions in the CO-OP ecosystem.
According to the company, client institutions need only have CO-OP account-based technology in place and have the ability to offer Zelle within their mobile banking solution to get started. CO-OP said the account-based technology represents a key differentiator, as it is already widely supported in the credit union marketplace by thousands of institutions and all major core processors. This result, CO-OP said, is its clients are positioned for fast, successful implementation.
“One of the biggest benefits of Zelle to a credit union is the potential it offers to support members as they increasingly rely on P2P payment technology to complete a variety of daily financial tasks,” said Bruce Dragt, chief product officer for CO-OP. “Zelle offers the day-to-day features members need and prefer to send and receive money, including fast funds availability.”
Three Credit Unions Now Onboard
CO-OP reported three credit union clients are already live with Zelle through their work with CO-OP, including Wescom Credit Union and Water and Power Community Credit Union.
“Zelle is an important part of our long-term payments and digital strategy,” said America Arevalo, director, Electronic Services for Wescom CU. “Zelle is a fast, safe and easy way for our membership to send and receive money. Partnering with CO-OP to integrate Zelle into our digital banking solution was a great experience.”
Added Stan Wootton, digital banking manager with WPCCU, “P2P in all of its iterations has changed the way money moves, introducing convenience and speed to the money movement process. Zelle, in particular, brought speed to money movement, revolutionizing fast payment functionality. CO-OP has always been a well-respected partner, and working with them has resulted in many efficiencies and improved experiences for our organization.”
CO-OP reported 15 more credit unions have signed up for the new Zelle offering.
Capturing Member Moments
CO-OP said partnering with Zelle is part of the company’s mission to offer robust technology to ensure credit unions are able to support more member moments.
“Zelle enables credit unions to support members in many ways consistently, both now as they adjust to the ‘new normal’ brought on by the COVID-19 outbreak, and going forward,” said Dragt. “As we learn more about what members expect from their primary financial relationship, it’s becoming clear that lifestyle, not just life stage, is the lynchpin of member loyalty. Zelle furthers a credit union’s digital maturity while providing a payments experience that is fast, safe and easy every day.”
According to the company, Zelle can be implemented via three integration options:
- Pre-integration via a credit union’s digital solution provider (available for shared Alkami clients today)
- Credit union-initiated digital provider integration
- In-house integration for credit unions with a home-grown digital banking solution.
Partnered With Alkami
CO-OP said it has partnered with Alkami to enable pre-integration within the Alkami digital banking solution to make it easier for clients shared by the two companies. CO-OP said it is also working with other digital banking providers to enable this same level of pre-integration. In the meantime, credit unions can work with their digital banking providers to initiate integration of Zelle.
For info: www.co-opfs.org/Zelle.