The ZashPay service will be available to the participant banks' customers from this summer, enabling users to send money to anyone with payments deposited directly into the recipient's account.

The system is built into Fiserv's Checkfree online payment service, which is currently used by more than 3,100 financial institutions. Fiserv has also developed a public site for people whose banks are not part of the network.

Erich Litch, general manager, consumer services, Fiserv, says: "They key to the success of P2P payments is simplicity and ubiquity. Consumer interest in person-to-person or social payments is strong, and the network of ZashPay banks and credit unions is growing rapidly."

Fiserv is one of a clutch of firms pushing its banking clients into the person-to-person payments space in the US markets. According to recent research sponsored by Fis, PayPal and Nacha, nearly half of Americans that bank online are interested in using electronic P2P payments.

Earlier this month CashEdge inked a deal with US Bank to launch person-to-person mobile payments and claims to have five other banks already committed to the Popmoney concept with a further 165 in the pipeline.