Walmart Positions its "One" Fintech as a Digital Wallet

I've always enjoyed following Walmart's moves in the fintech space. After the retailer purchased digital banking fintech One in 2022, I expected it to rapidly descend into fintech with new services targeting underbanked communities. However, that isn't how things have played out.

Last year, I watched as Walmart made calculated hires to build and expand its fintech team. Earlier this year, I covered the company's next small step into fintech when it began offering BNPL services to customers using One at the physical point of sale. And when doing my online grocery shopping this week, I was surprised to see that Walmart was positioning One more broadly as a digital wallet.

The company was pushing offers to customers willing to add their existing payment card to One. Customers can add up to four existing payment cards to their One wallet, and use the digital wallet to pay in-store or for online purchases at Walmart.com.

With this move, Walmart joins Starbucks, CVS, and other retailers to offer its own branded wallet. The only difference is that Walmart's digital wallet also offers a broader set of banking tools, including a high yield savings account, earned wage access, and a debit card.

Here's the major question-- now that Walmart has built its own mobile wallet and is rapidly enticing new customers with offers, will it take Amazon's approach of making its digital wallet available as a payment option at other retailers?

With that cliffhanger of a question, I'm Julie Muhn, here to report this week's fintech news.

Weekly Fintech News Roundup

Robinhood acquires AI-driven investment-advice platform Pluto.

Wise says customers may be impacted by Evolve Bank & Trust data breach.

Thread Bank receives FDIC consent order to increase BaaS oversight.

BlackRock to buy U.K. data group Preqin for $3.2 billion.

The Evolution of the Customer Experience Discussion in Fintech

The conversation around customer experience in financial services pre-dates fintech. At FinovateSpring earlier this year, we spoke with multiple experts to better comprehend how the conversation around the customer experience has evolved, to grasp where we are now, and to understand where the concept is headed in the future.

Check out the video interview highlights here: https://finovate.com/the-evolution-of-the-customer-experience-discussion-in-fintech/

Pause Button: Strange Types of Fun on the Fourth

Tomorrow, July 4th, Americans will celebrate the nation's birthday. And while many will take time off work to enjoy a classic barbecue and watch a fireworks show, some citizens will partake in more unusual traditions.

Marshmallow fights, lobster races, and "Road Apple Roulette" are among some of the more offbeat traditions highlighted by The Independent.

I love to celebrate the 4th in unorthodox ways. While the picture above shows me on July 4, 2017 hiking in the high country, donning a full-sized American Flag, this year I'm attaching my flag to my raft. I'll be hitting up a local river for some whitewater rafting.

For all my U.S. friends, I hope you are able to take some time off to celebrate responsibly.

Walmart photo by Marques Thomas on Unsplash

Customer experience photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

July 4 photo by author