Walmart to offer instant pay-by-bank option through Fiserv system – report

Walmart (NYSE:WMT) will offer its customers the option to pay for their purchases through instant payments from their bank accounts in 2025, sidestepping credit and debit card networks, according to a media report.

The transactions will go through Fiserv’s (NYSE:FI) NOW Network, which integrates The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network with the Federal Reserve’s FedNow real-time payment system, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, citing a Walmart executive.

The development comes as friction between merchants and card networks increase regarding fees that the payment systems charge for transactions.

The retail giant has offered pay-by-bank through Walmart Pay since earlier this year, but processed like digital checks through The Automated Clearing House, the payments could take about three days to be reflected in a customers’ bank account.

Under the new option, Walmart (WMT) will receive funds immediately and customers will see the transactions reflected in their bank accounts instantly. This will give customers a real-time view of their account, rather than have stacked transactions waiting to be processed.

“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,” Jamie Henry, vice president of emerging payments at Walmart, told Bloomberg. “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.”

Fiserv (FI) stock rose 1.2% and Walmart (WMT) stock fell 1.3% in Thursday morning trading.

Card network stocks fell, with Mastercard (MA) down 1.2% and Visa (V) off 1.7%. Card issuers, though, didn’t see declines. Bread Financial (BFH) rose 1.3%, Discover Financial (DFS) increased 3.3%, and Synchrony Financial (SYF) gained 3.5%.

Capital One Financial (COF) ended its credit card program with Walmart earlier this year; its stock rose 3.1% on Thursday.

Neither Walmart (WMT) nor Fiserv (FI) immediately responded to Seeking Alpha’s request for comment.