The ZashPay person-to-person payment network launched by Fiserv Inc. in 2009 will be absorbed by the Popmoney network that Fiserv bought last year with its acquisition of CashEdge.

The Popmoney name will remain, Fiserv said, and the P2P network will now connect 35 million consumers and 1,400 financial institutions, including large and regional banks and hundreds of community banks and credit unions.

“Our members are using Popmoney to send money and receive money from friends, family and colleagues, and usage is steadily increasing,” said Howie Wu, vice president of Virtual Banking at the $10 billion BECU in Tukwila, Wash. BECU began using Popmoney in 2010.

Fiserv said all clients will be upgraded to the enhanced Popmoney product and network by mid-2012.

Popmoney also will be integrated into the CheckFree RXP payment suite, which Fiserv said now is in use at 3,600 financial institutions.

“Our enabling technology will connect consumers, changing the way money is moved from one person to another,” said Jeff Yabuki, president/CEO at Fiserv in Brookfield, Wis.

Fiserv paid $465 million for New York-based CashEdge in September, eliminating the competition between Popmoney and ZashPay and positioning Fiserv to battle for the growing P2P market with new networks, including small startups and launches by the megabanks.

PayPal remains by far the largest P2P service. According to Aite Group, consumers make 11 billion person-to-person payments a year, the vast majority still by cash or check.