Wal-Mart N'est Pas Une Banque
Wal-Mart was becoming a key provider of financial services to millions of US low-income consumers at the fringes of the traditional banking industry. It offered check cashing, bill payment, money transfers, credit cards, prepaid cards, small-business loans and an innovative checking account. Although Wal-Mart offered all these products, the firm was not a bank in the US. In fact, regulators rejected several attempts to acquire a US depository institution charter. Nevertheless, through strategic partnerships the retailer made significant inroads into the U.S. financial services sector. In contrast, Mexican and Canadian regulators allowed Wal-Mart to become a chartered banking institution and offer traditional financial products through a network of banking branches and Wal-Mart retail centers. The case asks students to analyze Wal-Mart’s strategy to offer financial services and assess its impact on consumers and competitors
- Describe and evaluate a retailer’s strategy for offering financial services
- Evaluate and assess the unbanked and under-banked phenomenon among U.S. consumers as an opportunity for a retailer
- Evaluate and assess the impact of a retailer’s offering of financial products on important stakeholders
- Evaluate and assess the reasons for a retailer’s failure to own a chartered depository institution
- Evaluate a retailer’s decision to create the assorted financial services with specific vendors as opposed to contracting with a national bank to establish branches in the retailer’s stores
- Compare and evaluate the strategies used by a retailer to offer financial services in the US vs. Mexico