Bank of the West taps Fiserv to bring Zelle to small businesses

By Pavithra R

Bank of the West, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas has announced empowering its small business customers to send and receive money seamlessly with Turnkey Service for Zelle Small Business from Fiserv.

Bank of the West is one of the first FIs to bring the benefits of Zelle to its SMB customers and will be at the forefront of meeting the demand for convenient ways to pay and get paid.

“We’ve seen through the roof growth of Zelle person-to-person payments among our retail banking customers, especially in the wake of COVID-19. And we have been receiving significant customer demand from small businesses looking for similar capabilities,” said Hisham Salama, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Bank of the West.

The Bank of the West’s digital strategy is focussed on payments, an approach designed to increase customer engagement and deepen relationships. After successfully utilizing Turnkey Service for Zelle from Fiserv to enable person-to-person (P2P) payments for consumers, the bank is now extending Zelle payments to its SMB customers of all sizes across a range of industries.

Working with Fiserv allowed the bank to reduce time to market and provided the flexibility to scale and adapt to future customer demand.

Turnkey Service for Zelle: Small Business allows FIs to enable small businesses with a U.S. bank account to send, request and receive digital payments among eligible customers and suppliers without cash or checks. Small businesses can:

• Receive funds typically within minutes, given the recipient’s email address or U.S. mobile number is already enrolled with Zelle
• Worry less about missing cash, or returned or misplaced checks
• Send and receive payments virtually anytime, anywhere.
• Complete reconciliations faster, with transactions recorded in the bank account

“Small businesses are a priority for us, and we serve customers that range from startups to mid-level. It was essential that we offer an easy-to-use payments capability that was also cost-effective, as small businesses want to manage their time and expenses carefully,” said Michelle Di Gangi, Executive Vice President and Head of Small Business & Medium Enterprise at Bank of the West.

There is no requirement for additional app for small businesses to access Zelle at Bank of the West, as it is built into the mobile banking experience.

Established in 1984, Fiserv is a global provider of payment and financial services technology. The FinTech aspires to move money and information in a way that moves the world. The FinTech is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the FORTUNE 500 and is among FORTUNE World’s Most Admired Companies.