Apple is in talks with talks with a few US banks to create a mobile person-to-person payment service that would rival PayPal's Venmo platform, people familiar with the talks told the Wall Street Journal. The discussions are ongoing, and it is unknown if any of the banks reached an agreement with Apple, these people said. Details about the ways in which the service would be attached to the banking industry's existing infrastructure are also yet to be unveiled, they said.
The new service, thought to be similar to PayPal's Venmo, would enable the transfer of payments from end-users' checking accounts to recipients through their Apple devices. The service would likely be linked to the company's Apple Pay service for credit and debit card payments. A launch isn’t imminent, but one person said such a service could get off the ground next year. This year, Apple was granted a US patent for an encrypted person-to-person payment system using electronic devices that communicate wirelessly.
Apple has been talking with a number of banks about the service, including JP Morgan Chase, Capital One., Wells Fargo and US Bancorp, the report said. One of the options being considered by Apple is to connect to an existing person-to-person payment service called clearXchange offered by the nation’s banks, a person familiar with the talks said. The service, which has recently been overhauled and expanded, lets people use their checking account to send each other money with an email address or phone number.
