Implementing Zelle

Implementing Zelle within your digital banking platform is an exciting step toward offering your customers fast, secure, and convenient payments. As a partner in your digital transformation, Narmi is committed to ensuring a smooth and seamless integration of Zelle into your online banking experience.

Throughout this process, our team will be by your side, guiding you through each phase of the implementation journey. We’ll outline the necessary steps, assist with configuration, and ensure alignment between Narmi and your core banking provider. While the implementation process is generally similar across financial institutions, the specific details and timeline may vary based on your core banking system. Some nuances—such as integration complexity and project prioritization from your core—could influence the overall timeline and project flow.

Whether you’re working directly with Narmi or coordinating with your core provider, we’ll be there every step of the way to ensure you understand what to expect and what actions to take. This article will provide an overview of the process, key steps, and core nuances, so you can be confident in delivering Zelle to your customers without disruption.

Implementation Process

The first step in the Zelle implementation process is for your financial institution (FI) to formally notify your core banking provider of your intent to enable and implement Zelle within your digital banking platform. Please note that the timeline and next steps may vary depending on your core provider’s availability and prioritization. However, the implementation typically takes at least 90 days. Successful completion of the project requires dedicated resources from your institution, the core provider, and Narmi.

At a high level, the implementation process follows this general timeline:

• 30 days: Core provider team gathers necessary information from your FI

• 30 days: Configuration and setup phase (with support from Narmi)

• 30 days: Training staff and establishing operational rules

The core provider will provide an installation coordinator to support the implementation and drive the process forward with your FI. Additionally, the Narmi team is well-versed in Zelle and will work closely with your FI to understand your specific requirements. As a result, Narmi will serve as a strategic partner throughout the project, offering guidance and support to help drive a successful integration.

Key Considerations for Your Institution

• Your FI is responsible for restricting access to Zelle on a user level to only users for whom it is allowed (e.g. excluding business accounts)—so it is critical that your users are properly segmented in the Narmi Admin Portal and enable Zelle for only the appropriate groups

• Zelle’s network rules significantly limit the amount of customization your FI or third party (Narmi) can make to the Zelle experience

  • Customizations are limited to font size, font family, and colors

• Your FI must indicate if you wish to:

  • Require a one-time passcode each time money is sent to a recipient

  • Restrict a user to the email/phone sent during the SSO for the first-time user flow only

• Your FI is required to fill out a network application to Zelle and get approved by the Zelle network before going live

• Your FI is required to set up different limits for Zelle usage:

  • Amount limits:

    • Transaction limits (suggested $500-$1000)

    • Daily limits (suggested $500-$2000) [payments made since midnight of the current day]

    • Weekly limits (suggested $2000 - $5000) [payments made over the last 7 days]

    • Monthly limits (suggested $5,000 - $10,000) [payments made over the last 30 days]

  • Frequency limits:

    • In addition to the amount limits, some cores also require that your FI set up frequency limits for these transactions

• For most cores, limits can be adjusted for individual users by your FI submitting a ticket

End User Experience

Zelle has an intuitive UI/UX and is easy for most consumers to use by supporting an SSO into the experience. The full enrollment process is documented in Enroll in Zelle, but a few noteworthy items as it relates to implementation:

• Users must “enroll” in Zelle before using it for the first time with your FI

  • Enrollment can be done with either a personal phone number or email address

• Funds can be sent to a user who is already enrolled in Zelle, or a user who has not yet been enrolled

  • However, to access the funds, the recipient must enroll in Zelle (via their own FI) within 14 days

  • If a recipient does not enroll in Zelle within the 14-day window, the funds will be returned to the sender

• If a recipient’s FI does not have Zelle, they are able to download the “Zelle common app” and enroll with most Visa or Mastercard debit cards

Core-Specific Considerations

Jack Henry Associates (JHA) 

Jack Henry PayCenter is a payment hub run by Jack Henry that operates as a conduit to Zelle (as well as RTP and FedNow).  PayCenter manages most of the user experience and back-office movement of money associated with Zelle for the Financial Institution.  FIs partner with JHA directly for PayCenter and Narmi acts as a third party to support the integration. 

JHA PayCenter works with only the major Jack Henry core banking systems: SilverLake, Symitar Episys, CIF 20/20, or Core Director.  While Narmi may eventually support Zelle for other JHA cores, we do not as of Q4 2024.

Furthermore, while Zelle does have a solution for small business payments, today JHA PayCenter (and therefore, Narmi) only supports Zelle as a consumer-to-consumer solution. 

Below is an overview of JHA PayCenter:

*Please note that your FI will need to grant approval to Jack Henry to turn on the license for Faster Payments before a Zelle transaction will work in the Narmi platform.

FIS Cores

If FIS is your core banking provider and your institution already has an existing Zelle integration with your current digital banking provider, the integration with Narmi should be straightforward.

If your institution has not previously implemented Zelle with another digital banking provider, you will need to work directly with FIS to purchase Zelle. In this case, Narmi will serve as a strategic partner, providing guidance and support throughout the integration process.