[bin0]

It seems that while banks themselves do fewer things around p2p payments (which seems to be the over-arching issue you have with American banks), other private companies are greatly improving on this. The banks also banded together and launched their own knock-off, zelle (no fees even across banks, and most banks work with it). Not perfect, but not as bad as others have made it sound. Venmo, the competitor which prompted banks to make zelle, is also alive and kicking. Importantly, it's not owned by the banks, so it's an external competitor which will help drive innovation. I believe that having a non-bank as a market leader will help push American banking ahead better than the NZ banks deciding to implement something out of benevolence. Certainly not as bad as having to get a physical machine to do online banking; my Lord but that's byzantine. I wonder if some one could emulate the hardware device.

[MrRadar]

The Federal Reserve is finally taking notice too. In addition to modernizing ACH over the past few years (so that payments can be settled on the same business day instead of over 3 business days) it has finally decided to create its own instant payments system called FedNow. Unfortunately that won't be ready until 2023 but Zelle and Venmo should fill the gaps until then.

[privateSFacct]

With Zelle you are at big risk with misdirect funds, proving who got funds, almost no resolution if an issue comes up. I'd be careful with it until things settle down.