There are countless peer-to-peer mobile payment processing services nowadays, but few are as “instant” as they appear. Even though your Venmo app might say you’ve sent a friend the $15 you owe for that shared cab ride, it will take a day or two for the friend to withdraw and process the cash out to their bank account.

Zelle, a new payment processing network backed by more than 30 US banks, aims to make that process instantaneous. After six years in development, major banks are beginning to roll out the first stage of Zelle to let customers send and receive payments for free — regardless of bank affiliation — and allow instant withdrawals. Based on the Zelle website, it seems the intent is to process casual transactions, much like what…

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