An Electronic Wallet to Retrieve US Banks’ Customer Relationship

• US banks have decided to introduce an electronic wallet that will allow shoppers to pay online without using other online payment services.
• The new move is an attempt by the banks to regain their control over the customer relationship.
• The banks would advance the still unnamed wallet in collaboration with the EWS and issue more than 150 million debit cards and credit cards. 

The biggest banks in the United States announced on Tuesday their decision to introduce an electronic wallet with the intention to overpower the mobile payment services applications like Apple Pay and PayPal.

Significantly, the banks had been losing control over customer relationships as people substantially depended on online payment apps for transactions and other financial activities.

Currently, the major banks including Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), US Bancorp and Truist (TFC), Capital One (COF), and PNC, in collaboration with the Early Warning Services (EWS), the company that holds the Zelle electronic payment services, have stepped forward to compete with the third party payment services.

Notably, the agenda of the innovative idea by the banks is to provide “debit or credit card customers with an easy and secure way to pay while shopping online” and thereby bring back their control over the customer relationship.

The new wallet, which is yet unnamed, will permit shoppers to pay online without the interference of a third-party payment app; instead, the shoppers would be able to make payments using the electronic wallet linked to their credit cards or debit cards.

Subsequently, the EWS issued an article on January 24, notifying the aim of the new electronic wallet:

The wallet aims to provide an easy and secure way for consumers to pay online– no need to manually add card details, instead, a tokenized number is provided to the merchant.

Interestingly, the banks have decided to issue 150 million debit and credit cards for the wallet, once the wallet is brought forward.

Previously, the EWS planned to allow Zelle to be used for online purchases. However, the plan was dropped considering the possibilities of fraud and disputed transactions.

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