Last year, consumers and small businesses used the free peer to peer online payment platform called Zelle , to complete $806B worth of transactions. I n 2023, three billion Zelle payments equated to $100 million of transaction activity.... per hour . The Zelle platform owners are seven of our nation's largest banks. Those banks and over 2000 smaller banks and credit unions -- make Zelle available to customers for simple, instant, fund transfers. Unfortunately, there are countless bad actors preying on unsuspecting payers. freepik image In recent years, consumer watchdog groups , t he Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and politicians like Elizabeth Warren , Sherrod Brown and Maxine Waters have targeted Zelle's operator, Early Warning Services, LLC (EWS) and large bank owners of the platform, for consumer losses due to fraud. On December 20th, the CFPB announced it was suing ...
T his week at a conference, I listened to featured speaker, Austan Goolsbee , who is President of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, a noted Economist and frequent contributor to the financial press. He's also likeable. Official Portrait One day I'll post on entertaining economists because there are several on both sides of the aisle and Dr. Goolsbee, an Obama cabinet appointee and acolyte, will definately be part of that post. An amusing story Mr. Goolsbee told about a pleasant sense of wonder he experienced while attending a meeting in the Oval Office with President Obama and Larry Summers (the pleasant part ended abruptly) made the audience roar. Afterward, during the Q and A period, I anxiously awaited my turn with the microphone. When prompted, I found the "on" switch with only minor assistance. My question to Mr. Goolsbee, which I'll paraphrase, was... We hear much debate from economists and financial journalists about the likelih...