Banking Comes to Walmart With New Accounts for Shoppers, Workers

Coming soon from the world’s largest retailer: checking accounts.

A venture that’s majority-backed by Walmart Inc. is poised to emerge from the shadows this month with digital bank accounts meant for the retail giant’s 1.6 million US employees and legions of weekly shoppers. In coming weeks, the company will start offering the accounts to thousands of workers and a small percentage of its online customers as part of an initial beta test of the new service, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

The move heralds the arrival of Walmart’s fintech push after years of fitful efforts to expand ...