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Protecting Share, or Poking the Bear?

I asked a good friend of our firm, Ginger Schmeltzer, owner and principal of GDS Advisors, to comment on the recent announcement that PNC was blocking its customers from using their accounts to fund Venmo transactions. Ginger’s take echoed a number of comments made around the industry concerning the news.

One of the most closely watched contests in consumer banking is the battle for P2P supremacy between Zelle and Venmo. Zelle is touted as the bank-friendly alternative, owing to its status as an offering of Early Warning, itself owned by a consortium of the largest U.S. banks. Zelle has reported eye-popping growth figures, stemming from the embrace by its market-leading owner banks and surpassing Venmo volumes by most measures.

Venmo, on the other hand, remains the app of choice for the coveted Millennial and Generation Z cohorts. Zelle has yet to attain the “verb” status of its rival (“I’ll Venmo you…”), which has managed to hold onto its cachet as few consumers realize Venmo is now owned by the not-as-cool-as-it-once-was PayPal.