As one of the first financial institutions to bring the benefits of Zelle to its small business customers, Bank of the West will be at the forefront of meeting 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,” said Hisham Salama, Executive Vice President and Chief Digital Officer at Bank of the West. “And we have been receiving significant customer demand from small businesses looking for similar capabilities.”

The Bank of the West digital strategy is centered 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 small business customers of all sizes across a range of industries.

Working with Fiserv allowed the bank to reduce time to market, and this approach will provide flexibility that will enable the bank to scale and adapt to future customer demand.

“Small businesses are a priority for us, and we serve customers that range from startups to mid-level,” said Michelle Di Gangi, Executive Vice President and Head of Small Business & Medium Enterprise at Bank of the West. “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.”

Turnkey Service for Zelle: Small Business allows financial institutions 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, not days, when the recipient’s email address or U.S. mobile number is already enrolled with Zelle
• Reduce concerns about missing cash, or returned or misplaced checks
• Send and receive payments virtually anytime, to and from practically anywhere
• Complete reconciliations faster, with transactions recorded in the bank account

No additional app is required for small businesses to access Zelle at Bank of the West as it is built into the mobile banking experience.

“There are an estimated 30 million small businesses in the U.S., and they want solutions that make it easier to make payments and get paid,” said Matt Wilcox, President, Digital Payments and Data Aggregation at Fiserv. “Bank of the West is helping to lead the way in offering Zelle capabilities to small business customers, who will benefit from the reach, connectivity and speed of Zelle.”