Tearsheet Podcast: The Business Of Finance

Welcome to the Tearsheet Podcast, where we explore the future of financial services with an eye toward technology, new models, innovation, and changing expectations. When Early Warning launched Zelle in 2017, it seemed a very big mountain to climb. For a bank-backed P2P payments app to replace or at least compete with Venmo seemed unbelievable. Venmo was clearly one of the most popular consumer fintech apps. But if you look at the growth today, Zelle slowly but surely surpassed PayPal’s favorite brand. In early 2023, Zelle had 120 million customers with 69 million monthly unique Zelle users. Venmo, which launched more than a decade ago, had 90 million active accounts, with 60 million being active monthly. It took time but it shows the massive power of bank distribution. Early Warning and its banking partners are back with a new digital wallet called Paze. Of course there are more popular digital wallets on the market. Will the power of bank distribution propel Paze’s growth in the market the way it did