Financial technology firm Apiture announced last week that it has partnered with Zelle, putting a popular electronic money-transfer system in the hands of customers of Apiture Xpress platform clients.
 
“The partnership between Apiture and Zelle enables a streamlined and enhanced experience for Apiture customers,” the Wilmington-based firm’s news release stated. “Apiture Xpress is an established platform that has been serving leading financial institutions for more than 20 years, helping them to create a fully integrated digital bank. This embedded capability provides clients with a secure, seamless and efficient way to send and receive payments through their digital banking applications.”
 
Zelle is a U.S.-based peer-to-peer payments network owned by Early Warning Services LLC.
 
Early Warning Services LLC is a fintech company owned by seven of the country’s largest banks: Bank of America, BB&T – now Truist, Capital One, JPMorgan Chase, PNC Bank, US Bank and Wells Fargo. The Zelle Network is its best-known product.
 
Now, that product, which is used by hundreds of banks and credit unions in the United States, will be available to every customer of the hundreds of banks and credit unions that use the Apiture Xpress platform.

“We saw an effortless synergy between Apiture and Zelle [that complements] Apiture's mission to empower financial institutions to accelerate their digital transformation. It’s part of our effort to ensure that our clients have all the capabilities they need to serve their customers,” Apiture’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Cox said. “Zelle provides them with an option that allows their customers to receive and send money to and from other people. Zelle will be inside the mobile banking [solution].”

Cox said that Zelle is not yet coupled with the company’s Apiture Open platform, which primarily serves larger financial institutions, but he expects it will be.

Apiture, a joint venture between Live Oak Bank and Atlanta-based First Data Corp., was established in 2017 and now employs 233 people at its local headquarters and its Austin, Texas, offices.