Fiserv: Powering Pay-by-Bank at Leading US Retailer Walmart

Customers of the world’s biggest retailer, Walmart, will soon be able to pay directly from their bank accounts with instant transfers, for online purchases. 

Walmart currently offers pay-by-bank, through Walmart Pay. In 2025, customers will be able to opt for pay-by-bank transactions, which will see the purchase in their bank account balance instantly, just as Walmart receives the funds it is owed. 

While this is good news for customers, some have highlighted that such an enhanced feature is another example of the tension between merchants and card networks, in regards to fees and payment processing. 

Streamlining transactions and reducing fees for a better customer experience at Walmart

For a company whose annual revenue exceeds the GDP of many countries, Walmart's economic impact cannot be understated. 

From a single mom-and-pop shop in 1962, to the #1 spot on the Fortune 500 list, a part of Walmart’s success can be attributed to adopting barcode technology early, streamlining inventory management and checkout processes. 

The advantage of instant pay-by-bank, over debit cards, is avoiding stacked pending transactions for customers. For those with low balances, pending transactions can put people at risk of overdraft or non-sufficient funds fees from their bank.

Many consumers enjoy using credit and debit cards, as they offer:

• Convenience
• Fraud protection
• Rewards 

But some merchants have shared their discontent over fees that they pay for card processing to banks and networks, such as Visa and Mastercard. 

“When the transaction processes as a real time payment, customers get immediate access to see that payment come through, I see it hit my account and I can properly budget. It’s not as if I’ve got this phantom payment out there that’s going to take place a couple days down the road,” said Jamie Henry, Vice President of Emerging Payments at Walmart. 

Walmart's upgraded pay-by-bank transactions will occur over bank technology provider Fiserv’s NOW Network, which is integrated with The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow. 

The NOW Network wants to connect to as many banks as it can, to reach 100% of deposit accounts, through combining its own network with RTP and FedNow. 

“As an industry we believe we need to create this connectivity,” said Matt Wilcox, Head of Digital Payments at Fiserv. “FedNow and RTP, they don’t necessarily talk to one another. The NOW Network can play that role in the industry of bringing all these networks together to enable applications like pay-by-bank.”

The instant pay-by-bank product will be available for online checkout on Walmart.com in 2025.

Reducing emissions from retail and the food industry 

As the world's largest retailer, Walmart collaborates with numerous global brands, including Microsoft for cloud technology and Google for voice-activated shopping. 

Walmart's goals include expanding its omnichannel presence, investing in its workforce and improving sustainability. Accounting for around 25% of global emissions, much of the retail industry’s emissions occur in the retail value chain. Walmart's Project Gigaton aims to reduce one billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from its global supply chain by 2030.

******

Make sure you check out the latest industry news and insights at Food Digital.

******
Food Digital is a BizClik brand