Consumers can be an impatient bunch, and that becomes pretty clear when the conversation turns to insurance checks and other corporate disbursements. But what would happen if faster disbursements were combined with a (peer-to-peer) P2P service that is striving for more bank partners and customers?
That was the subject of a recent PYMNTS interview with Drew Edwards, CEO of instant money network Ingo Money, and Lou Anne Alexander, group payments president of the bank-owned Early Warning, which itself owns the digital P2P payments network Zelle.
Today, Zelle has a direct connection to 143 banks, using the consumer’s mobile phone number as an alias to route funds to the appropriate bank account. Connections to accounts outside of the Zelle network are completed through another alias: a network-branded debit card, with an option for those account holders to register directly with Zelle via the app.
Ingo Money is focused on real-time corporate disbursements. Through its instant money service, companies can send funds in real time to more than 4.5 billion consumer accounts, including credit or debit cards, online wallets and cash-out distribution points.
Zelle’s partnership with Ingo powers a new white-label solution targeting corporate disbursers, enabling them to efficiently distribute digital disbursements to consumers — directly to bank accounts using Zelle or to any of the other billions of endpoints that Ingo supports, including digital wallets. Ingo takes the disbursement files that these corporate disbursers would ordinarily send for ACH or check distribution and distributes those funds in real time.
Edwards said some of the financial institutions (FIs) interested in using Zelle for business-to-consumer disbursements might be more comfortable integrating directly with Zelle. Describing Ingo as an “enabling partner,” Edwards said that other banks “will look for a partner that can give them a single integration to all disbursement choices, including Zelle, and that’s what this relationship is all about.”
Disbursement Variety
The service now covers 12 different categories of disbursement. Today, Alexander said, those requests for instant disbursements typically involve “emergency payments, with disaster relief and insurance claims topping the list.”
Financial aid also represents an active area for the disbursement service. Traditionally, students needing money for books, tuition, and room and board would pick up a check from the appropriate authority or office, deposit it into an account and make the relevant purchases. That often left some students on edge, hoping nothing bounced. Now, they can benefit from having funds deposited into their accounts and using debit cards for what they need to buy.
Future Growth
Alexander said that broadening the landscape for disbursements could fuel Zelle’s growth, both in terms of customers and payments volume. The Ingo partnership not only gives corporates an on-demand, digital disbursements solution, but also creates a new customer acquisition channel for Zelle. Users outside the Zelle network can be invited to enroll for future disbursements across any of the disbursers that Ingo supports, with those funds deposited directly into their bank accounts.
She noted that, in the first quarter of 2018, “we did $25 billion worth of payments, and 85 million transactions.” She said that Zelle’s disbursement solution, which is live, has five banks as clients on the disbursement side, with two more FIs in the “implementation” phase.
Alexander added that the service’s growth, so far, has been encouraging. She predicted that, with Ingo’s added support and within 18 months, “disbursements will start to blow out some of the other volumes we will see in the network.” She also hopes to see the service expand to include much more than emergency payments.
What do the movies “Blade Runner,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” “Back to the Future Part II” and Spike Jonze’s “Her” all have in common?
These science fiction movies, each depicting various versions of a future full of fantastic technologies, all take place in the year 2025 or earlier.
Though some of the high-tech gadgets and futuristic innovations seen in these films, such as hoverboards and flying cars, haven’t quite materialized in everyday life, they have sparked imagination and set the stage for the very real innovations. As the dozens of groundbreaking products and wacky gadgets that debuted at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week reveal, the future is certainly now.
CES, after all, rarely disappoints when it comes to providing a first-look at some truly strange gadgets that might just represent the ultimate showcase of tomorrow’s technology.
From artificial intelligence (AI) being embedded into everything and smarter than ever home devices, to autonomous robotic companions and wearable tech that both bends and blends reality, many of the inventions that once seemed out of reach in Hollywood films are now being unveiled on the convention floor.
See also: The Five Not-So-Obvious Things That Will Change the Digital Economy in 2025
It’s becoming clear that today’s technological advancements are increasingly bridging the gap between what was once imagined and what’s now becoming real.
For example, smart home robots are no longer a futuristic fantasy — they are being positioned as potentially indispensable components of modern households.
CES 2025 saw the debut of the Roborock Saros Z70, a robot vacuum with a telescopic, five-axis arm. Rosey the Robot from “The Jetsons” has nothing on this little gadget, which its maker describes as “a mechanical arm that sees and thinks,” and is able to pick up and put away items like socks, shoes, tissues and more.
For more serious household tasks, the SwitchBot Multitasking Household Robot K20+ Pro was also unveiled at CES 2025. “Whether it’s delivering objects, vacuuming, monitoring pets, purifying the air, providing home security, or even mobilizing smart tablets, the K20+ Pro juggles household management with ease … from delivering food and drinks to carrying small packages,” said a company release.
Read more: Training Robots Using Video Games Could Democratize Warehouse Automation
The K20+ Pro’s core is designed for customization and flexibility, serving as a modular foundation that allows users to create, adapt, and personalize the robot for a wide variety of innovative applications, and can connect with third-party smart devices like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, ensuring integration into any smart home ecosystem.
Elsewhere, TCL premiered its “AI Me” (Amy) concept companion robot, complete with animated eyes, autonomous movement and an AI-powered camera on its head; while Dreame showcased its X50 Ultra robot vacuum that has legs to avoid obstacles.
As smart home technology continues to evolve, the integration of robots designed to assist in daily activities could significantly alter how we interact with our homes, manage tasks and even shape the future of work.
TomBot, for example, debuted an emotional robotic lap dog, Jennie, an AI robot therapy dog designed to keep seniors company. On the more playful side of things, Tokyo robotics startup Yukai Engineering introduced the Nékojita FuFu, a portable cat-shaped robot that can blow air to cool hot food or drinks.
It wasn’t solely robotics for use at home being showcased at CES. John Deere used the Las Vegas event to reveal its own autonomous agricultural products. The fully autonomous machines were on display from Jan. 7 to 10, and were a bit bigger in size, if equivalently less cute, than the TomBot puppies.
Read more: Google Reportedly Bringing Gemini AI to TV Sets
Behind the strangely futuristic convenience of a robot picking up your laundry and taking out the trash while it vacuums and interfaces with the rest of your household appliances lies a much larger story: the rise of the smart economy.
As CES 2025 showed, augmented reality (AR) glasses are the eye candy of the smart economy. A host of futuristic specs were unveiled, capable of a range of tasks that turn the wearer into a high-tech superhero.
Halliday showcased “the world’s first proactive AI glasses with invisible display,” while freshly debuted Loomos.AI glasses offer a ChatGPT-4o integrated AI assistant.
But other appendages remain up for grabs, and innovative products from smart rings to apps like WowMouse, which allows smartwatch wearers to control devices using just their gestures and fingers, are vying for market share in ways that aim to make daily life more convenient, efficient and secure.