The goal at the time was to quickly develop modern and affordable financial products for Walmart employees and customers, the retailer said. Walmart took majority ownership and added several top executives to its board, per CNBC. It would aim to become a one-stop shop for financial services for customers from a variety of socioeconomic groups, its CEO and former Goldman Sachs executive, Omer Ismail, told The Wall Street Journal when the company acquired two financial services firms and took on the brand name One.

Now called OnePay after a rebrand in March, that vision is closer to reality. The firm now offers a suite of financial services including banking, credit cards and loans, all through the OnePay app, and it will soon launch investment services. In September, CNBC reported OnePay would add wireless plans, and this month, the same outlet reported that the firm would soon offer cryptocurrency trading through its app.

OnePay has kept many aspects of its business under wraps, and Walmart doesn’t speak much about the firm’s business; OnePay hasn’t publicly disclosed how many users it has, its current ownership structure or how much of its business is derived from Walmart shoppers, for example. But now, Walmart seems to be focused on using OnePay to expand its financial services in a way that gives it some control and yet keeps Walmart as an organization insulated from any of the risks associated with running a financial institution. OnePay declined to comment for this story.

A Walmart spokesperson provided this statement: “Walmart is dedicated to delivering convenient and secure payment experiences for our customers. Our relationship with OnePay demonstrates our commitment to offering innovative payment solutions that make shopping at Walmart easier and more accessible.”

While it offers its services to non-Walmart customers, OnePay this year has added features that further expand its relationship with the retailer and its customers. In March, OnePay said its app would handle Walmart’s buy-now, pay-later loans, now provided by Klarna, which replaced Affirm. In June, OnePay announced new Walmart credit cards in partnership with Synchrony. The company also offers a digital wallet that can be used at checkout in Walmart stores and on Walmart’s website.

“For years, millions of customers have put their trust in Walmart to not only save them money when they shop with us but help them manage their financial needs,” John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S., said in a news release in 2021. “They’ve made it clear they want more from us in the financial services arena.”

The finance app also boosts the value of Walmart+ memberships, Walmart CFO John David Rainey said on the company’s last earnings call in August. OnePay’s Walmart credit card will provide 5% cash back at Walmart for Walmart+ members, versus 3% for nonmembers and 1.5% for non-Walmart purchases.

“That is as good as anything that is out there in the market. Then you throw on top of that all the benefits that come from Walmart+,” Rainey said in a separate call with investors in August. “I actually think this will be one of the largest acquisition channels for Walmart+ members here in the near future.”

However, Kantar vp Karen Kelso, an analyst who covers Walmart, said she’s skeptical that OnePay will be such a growth driver for Walmart+. “For me, as a more affluent customer and Walmart+ member, I’m not moved by 5%,” as other cards also offer 5% cash back, she said. “To me, it’s not enough to move it. It’s just one more card to have to hassle with.”

Ribbit Capital managing partner Meyer Malka said in 2021 that OnePay and Ribbit were leveraging Walmart’s relationship with millions of customers and associates built on trust, security and integrity.

“When we combine our deep knowledge of technology-driven financial businesses and our ability to move with speed with Walmart’s mission and reach, we can create and deliver financial offerings that are second to none,” Malka said in a news release at the time.

Brad Jashinsky, retail director analyst at Gartner, said Walmart has a large opportunity to offer alternative financial services to its customers.

“With Walmart’s huge number of customers and huge landscape they play in, many of their customers are going to be unbanked, or partially unbanked,” Jashinsky said. “You’re going to have a lot of customers that are looking for financial alternatives instead of the traditional bank account.”

Walmart has offered an array of financial services over the years, including the Walmart Credit Card, Walmart Money Card, check-cashing, money transfers and installment loans. These, however, have frequently relied on partnerships with third parties, rather than a company in which Walmart has ownership.

But, if Walmart grows OnePay as a payment method, that could be a way for the retailer to avoid paying credit card swipe fees and give it access to more customer data that could help it grow its advertising business and other offerings.

“I think it’s a more fully complete picture, data wise, of people’s financial habits,” Kelso said. “Banks have the biggest amount of data that is truly valuable in terms of understanding wallet purchases, and where people choose and don’t choose to go.”

Walmart has also seen the potential of financial services in building out its digital offerings in Mexico. In May, Walmart International president and CEO Kathryn McLay said at an investment conference. In Mexico, the company offers buy-now, pay-later loans as well as digital wallets and other credit options.

In 2024, Walmart Mexico launched Beneficios, a loyalty program that, as of May, 65 million customers had signed up for, according to McLay. She said that, in the past, many customers in Mexico had paid in cash; therefore, they previously may not have had a digital footprint Walmart could track.

“All of those are about financial inclusion and digital inclusion to enable us to continue to grow the customer base, but also to have really rich relationships with them,” McLay said. “Over the last year, we have been really focused on how we make sure we set ourselves up to have that one-on-one personalized relationship with our customer base.”