Walmart Takes First Step to Launching Digital Bank With One

[Gunnar Larson]

It may not be a good day for One.Finance and Walmart with the Marcus news?

One's CEO Omer Ismail use to run Marcus:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/omer-ismail-b6400824

He also has some big problems with Goldman and Apple Card. New York is
dragging its feet on providinf xNY.io - Bank.org answers on FOIL requests.

Seems like the NY-DFS Superintendent's office is part of the scheme?

----

https://www.pymnts.com/digital-first-banking/2022/walmart-takes-first-step-to-launching-digital-bank-with-one/
[image: Walmart]

Retail banking, indeed.  In the most literal sense.

In a move that is not a surprise  — but is a seismic shift in financial
services, nonetheless — Walmart is branching into bank accounts.

And, by extension, bringing the banking branch into the retail aisles.

Bloomberg reported
<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-14/walmart-backed-startup-one-to-offer-bank-accounts-to-shoppers-workers?srnd=premium&sref=zNmRQ0gk&leadSource=uverify%20wall>
on
Wednesday (Sept. 14) that the commerce juggernaut is set to begin offering
— through its backing of FinTech One <https://www.one.app/> — bank accounts
and related services to its 1.6 million employees. That rollout will start
with a beta test.

The startup took shape with the acquisitions of Even Responsible Finance
and One Finance. The startup is a neobank; checking and basic banking
offerings will, ostensibly, pave the road for Walmart to offer investing
and credit. In terms of the mechanics, One offers a digital banking
account; Even Responsible Finance enables workers to access wages as they
are earned.

Read more: Walmart’s FinTech Hazel Acquires Even and One to Build Finance
Super App
<https://www.pymnts.com/acquisitions/2022/walmarts-fintech-hazel-acquires-even-and-one-to-build-finance-super-app/>

And in terms of the initial roadmap, Bloomberg reported that there would
also be discounts on purchases, as the One app offers 2% back on money
spent at drugstores, gas stations and in-store.

Against that backdrop, we can posit a future where an employee (and
eventually the public) could have paychecks deposited directly into
Walmart-centered accounts, funds spent from those accounts and cash back
from transaction making its way back into linked savings accounts — or
funneled into investment holdings.

The app then becomes a super app, a digital front door through which linked
activities flow, sometimes simultaneously.

In a recent PYMNTS/PayPal report on the state of and consumers’ desire for
super apps,
<https://www.pymnts.com/study/super-app-shift-consumer-finance-shopping-connected-economy/#wpcf7-f1354519-o1>
41%
of consumers reported they likely would increase their banking activities
if they had access to a super app. And  50% of respondents said they use
connected devices to make shopping more convenient. And, in further data
that should pique the interest of would-be super app providers (Walmart
among them), we’ve estimated that there would be 98 million “day one”
users, as measured across Australia, Germany, the United States and the
United Kingdom.

The impetus is there, especially, for retailers to bring super apps to
market, as these same consumers wield significant spending power. As seen
in the research below, the annual spending of these “day one” users top
$3.2 billion annually. By feeling more comfortable about their financial
wellness, with transparency rendered in real time, the urge may be there to
spend more time — and money — in the aisles.
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