Apple is in talks with some of America's biggest banks about launching a Venmo-style mobile person-to-person payments service, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Citing sources, the Journal says that Apple has discussed the issue with JPMorgan Chase, Capital One, Wells Fargo and US Bank but that it is "unclear" whether agreements have been reached.
The service, which could launch next year, would see users able to send money from their bank checking accounts to recipients via Apple devices. Technical details are unknown but Apple could simply link up to the bank-owned clearXchange platform and integrate with its Apple Pay offering.
With young Americans increasingly turning away from cash and cheques, the P2P payments market is seen as a huge, fast-growing market. Venmo, the service acquired by PayPal when it bought Braintree in 2013, has established itself as the market leader, but other tech giants, including Google, Facebook and Square are all competing.
News of the initiative coincides with a forthright prediction of the imminent death of cash by Apple boss Tim Cook. Speaking to university students in Dublin, Cook told the audience that the next generation of children born in Britain "will not know what money is".