The US banking system is archaic compared to elegant systems like they have in Australia/New Zealand (and probably Europe). No malicious rent-seeking third parties needed in the transaction.

Perhaps you should do a little bit more research. Zelle allows payment between banks (almost) instantly. No fee, since it's a service owned by participating banks, practically all major banks in the US. Zelle processed $187 billion in 2019.

https://www.zellepay.com/get-started

Perhaps you should do a little research and find that the rest of the world has been doing that between all banks for a decade or two.

Not mention its ubiquity that allows everyone from teens to grandparents to pay .25 for a cookie, to dropping a down payment, to paying bills, to filing taxes, to automating a weekly rent check. Basically an elegant single system required for modern life.

The fact zelle, launched in 2017, has a brand name, and competes for mindshare illustrates how they missed the target. In other countries it’s called banking.