Will banks finally move beyond routing numbers with clearXchange?

Three of the nation’s largest financial institutions have formed a new venture to set their collective sites on the red-hot mobile commerce space. With clearXchange, Bank of America Corp. (BAC), JPMorgan Chase and Co. (JPM) and Wells Fargo and Co. (WFC) want to give customers a more convenient way to move money from their checking accounts with only a mobile number or email address.
The banks plan to roll out the service nationwide and eventually expand it to include other financial institutions and endpoints for the money transfers. All three banks will have an ownership stake in clearXchange, which will be based in Charlotte, N.C., and Bank of America’s John Feldman will serve as general manager. Financial terms and arrangements for the service were not disclosed.
“This is an innovative game-changer in electronic payments,” said Mike Kennedy, EVP and head of payments strategy at Wells Fargo. “We want our customers to be able to easily send money to anyone without having to establish a new account outside their primary bank. All our customers need to know is the email address or mobile number of a friend or family member and we will take care of the rest utilizing clearXchange.”