Credit: WrongWay
Velera, the payments CUSO, announced a new partnership with Early Warning Services (EWS), the company behind Zelle, aimed at expanding real-time payments access to Minority Depository Institution (MDI) credit unions.
The collaboration is designed to help smaller credit unions meet rising member expectations for convenient peer-to-peer (P2P) payments, while competing with larger institutions that already offer Zelle. “If credit unions are not offering Zelle, their members are likely to look elsewhere,” said Amy Evans, SVP of Strategic Solutions at Velera. “With interest in P2P payments only continuing to increase, it is more important than ever for credit unions to offer these types of payments solutions to their members.”
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Monday’s announcement was made during Velera’s annual conference, VeleraLIVE, happening in Denver this week.
Currently, 95% of U.S. financial institutions offering Zelle are community banks and credit unions, according to EWS. Velera’s partnership ensures that MDI credit unions gain equitable access to one of the nation’s most widely used digital payment platforms.
“Zelle is not just a tool for the big banks. It’s powering real-time payments for community banks and credit unions nationwide — from rural towns to urban neighborhoods,” Denise Leonhard, general manager of Zelle, said. “Zelle is helping local community banks and credit unions meet rising consumer expectations, compete with larger players, and bring modern financial tools to Main Street.”
Through the partnership, Velera will help credit unions integrate Zelle into their digital banking apps while offering tools for fraud detection and usage tracking.
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Michael Ogden
Editor-in-Chief at CU Times. To connect, email at [email protected]. As Editor-in-Chief of CU Times since 2016, Michael Ogden has led the editorial team in all aspects of content strategy and execution, including the creation of the publication’s exclusive and proprietary research database of the credit union industry’s economic landscape. Under Michael’s leadership, CU Times has successfully shifted to an all-digital editorial product with new focuses on the payments, fraud, lending and regulatory beats. Most recently, he introduced a data-focused editorial product for subscribers that breaks down credit union issues into hard data, allowing for a deeper and more factual narrative for readers. In 2024, he launched the "Shared Accounts With CU Times" podcast, which offers a fresh, inside-the-newsroom perspective through interviews with leaders from the credit union industry and the regulatory world. He dives into pressing credit union issues, while revealing the personalities working behind-the-scenes to push the credit union world forward. His background includes years as a radio and TV anchor/reporter and a public relations and digital/social media manager, where he covered the food and music industries, as well as cooperatives and credit unions. Over the years, he has launched numerous exclusive video and podcast series, including a successful series of interactive backstage interviews with musicians at music festivals, showcasing his social media and live streaming production skills.
