Walmart Starts Wire Transfer Service

Walmart calls the new service Walmart-2-Walmart Money Transfer Service, and says it will go live on April 24. Euronet subsidiary Ria will provide the service as a licensed money transfer operator and Walmart will be Ria’s authorized agent.

The world’s largest retailer has sought approval to offer banking services primarily as a service to the more than 25% of Americans who either do not use a bank or do not take advantage of many banking services. In the banking world, these people are identified as unbanked or underbanked.

In 2012, Walmart launched a prepaid debit card service called Bluebird in conjunction with American Express. By teaming up with established and licensed financial services firms, Walmart is inching its way into the business of banks.

And it is not the only one. Starbucks Corp. (NASDAQ: SBUX), for example, lets customers pre-load a debit card or a mobile app that they can they use to make purchases at Starbucks stores. The company said in its fourth-quarter earnings release that about $2.5 billion in U.S. sales came from the pre-loaded cards and app.

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Western Union shares were down about 5.6% in the first half-hour of trading Thursday, at $15.15 in a 52-week range of $14.25 to $19.50.

Moneygram shares were off 13.4% to $15.58, after posting a new 52-week low of $14.19 earlier. The 52-week high is $24.88.

Walmart shares were up 0.25%, at $77.41 in a 52-week range of $71.51 to $81.37.

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