The CEOs of the seven largest retail banks appeared before Congress today for the second of two days of hearings, defending the Zelle peer-to-peer payments network and assuring lawmakers that their institutions reimburse customers for unauthorized payments. One of the most animated discussions of the Senate hearing came when Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pressed panelists on the number of fraudulent transactions through Zelle that customers have reported, to which the CEOs responded that the network had a much better track record than its nonbank competitors.
“Zelle is one of the P2P networks that you highlight,” William Demchak, CEO of PNC Financial Services, told Warren. “The others have 15 times the number of disputes coming into our company.” Figures from the Bank Policy Institute show that the rate of disputed transactions made using Paypal is three times that of Zelle, while the disputed transaction rate at CashApp is six times that of Zelle.