It looks like the major US banks are taking the threat from Apple and PayPal, as well as the neobanks more seriously. If they’re not, why are they planning to roll out a new “wallet” that mimics what Apple Pay and PayPal are doing.
Here’s a summary about the new “wallet” the banks want you to use:
– Big banks are teaming up to launch a digital wallet that people can use to shop online.
– The digital wallet will be managed by Early Warning Services LLC, the bank-owned company that operates money-transfer service Zelle.
– One goal of the new service is to compete with third-party wallet operators such as PayPal Holdings Inc. and Apple Inc.’s Apple Pay.
– The banks expect to enable 150 million debit and credit cards for use within the wallet when it rolls out.
– The wallet will be launched with Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. debit and credit cards.
– EWS reached out about the initiative to other card networks, including Discover Financial Services, to gauge their interest in enabling their cards to be loaded onto the wallet.
This is clearly a defensive move, that is designed to keep more money inside the major banks, and not see money move elsewhere.