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Apple Pay May See Rival as Big Banks Work on Digital Wallet, Report Says

The wallet will be built by Early Warning Services, the bank-owned company that created the money transfer app Zelle, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Sarah Lord Writer
Sarah Lord covers TVs and home entertainment. Prior to joining CNET, Sarah served as the tech and electronic reviews fellow at Insider, where she wrote about everything from smart watches and wearables to tablets and e-readers. She began her career by writing laptop reviews as an intern and subsequent freelancer at Tom's Hardware. She is also a professional actor with many credits in theater, film and television.
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Sarah Lord
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EWS, the bank-owned company behind the money transfer app Zelle, will launch a new digital wallet that could rival Apple Pay. 

 Sarah Tew/CNET

Apple Pay, PayPal and other digital wallets are about to get more competition. Big banks such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and others are working together to build their own digital wallet, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday. 

The new digital wallet is not yet named, but will reportedly be built by Early Warning Services, the company behind the money transfer app Zelle. A spokeswoman for EWS confirmed the company is working on a new wallet for "consumers, merchants, and financial institutions" that will "launch this year," and said more details would be announced on Tuesday. 

EWS is owned by a collection of banks including Capital One Financial and PNC Financial Services Group. The new wallet from EWS will reportedly be a separate app from Zelle and allow users to link their credit and debit cards in order to easily check out at online retailers. The wallet will debut in the second half of 2023 for Visa and Mastercard holders, according to the Journal.

Digital wallets such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and PayPal have become increasingly popular with shoppers. These services store your credit or debit card information in a secure location online or in your phone for use when purchasing goods online or in store. They help to prevent fraud by giving users an alternative to directly entering their financial information onto a merchant website.

Apple, in particular, has made large strides into the financial service industry. Along with Apple Pay, the company offers its own credit card, as well as Apple Cash, its peer-to-peer money transfer service. Apple Pay hit over 10 billion transactions in 2019 and has continued to grow since, cutting into a market once dominated by big banks. 

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