• One is breaking into the growing payment services category as monthly retail sales numbers continue to rise, but some Americans show signs of strain from inflation driving up the prices of food, housing and more. Those stretched wallets could fuel consumers’ interest in paying for purchases in other ways. Buy now, pay later allows customers to gradually pay off a purchase with fixed monthly payments, along with interest.
  • Walmart already offers a buy now, pay later option to customers through Affirm.  Shares of buy now, pay later firm Affirm fell on Friday. Walmart declined to comment.
• Walmart, the country’s largest private employer and its biggest grocer, has long offered financial services at many of its stores. It has a money center where customers can go for banking-related services, such as printing checks, sending or receiving money or loading prepaid debit cards. Many of those services are geared toward families that have lower incomes, do not have relationships with a traditional bank or do not have the credit history to qualify for credit cards.

See:  Walmart to launch fintech startup with partner Ribbit Capital

• Ribbit Capital: Last year, Walmart went a step further by creating and backing a fintech startup with Ribbit Capital, one of the investment firms behind Robinhood.
  • The fintech startup is independent, but Walmart has the biggest stake. Its board also includes several top executives, including Walmart U.S. CEO John Furner and chief financial officer John David Rainey. Rainey, Walmart’s new CFO, recently joined the board and is the former CFO of PayPal.
  • Since Walmart created and backed the startup in early 2021, it has gotten bigger. It acquired two other fintech startups, One and Even, for an undisclosed amount early this year. It adopted the name One and aims to be an all-in-one app where consumers can manage their money.

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