Hi. I'm Aaron Weinman. The most interesting thing I learned when I first visited a Walmart was the sheer range of goods the retailer has on offer. Turns out that diversity extends to services — specifically banking — too.
Walmart has sewn the seeds for a thriving fintech for some time. In January last year, the retailer said it was pursuing a partnership with venture-capital firm Ribbit Capital, which backed Robinhood.
The next month, Walmart lured Omer Ismail and David Stark, two executives from Goldman Sachs' Marcus, over to work on a fintech initiative.
Now, the company wants to roll out checking accounts for its staff and shoppers.
To be sure, it's a big undertaking.
The US consumer-banking market is saturated with legacy banks like JPMorgan and Bank of America, and fintech upstarts including PayPal and Cash App.
Insider's Ann Gehan, Carter Johnson, and Ben Tobin have identified the key people shaping this effort at its fintech called ONE.
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1. Walmart's secretive fintech ONE is building a consumer-banking offering that will complement its retail capabilities. There is plenty of upside, but no doubt, Walmart is entering a crowded space.
The big banks are digging deep into their pockets to offer state-of-the-art mobile apps, while also investing in tech like robo advisors to win over wealthier individuals. Walmart will also go up against the legion of fintech startups that offer myriad third-party electronic payments services or buy now, pay later initiatives.
The retailer, however, does have a 1.6 million-strong US workforce that could benefit from a digital-banking service. It also has an army of customers that frequent stores across the country for everything from staple goods to fishing rods. And the hope is that these loyal customers will bet on Walmart's consumer-banking offering.
ONE has snared people from a host of industries across tech and banking to build out the product and strategy of the business.
Get to know 13 people from ONE's C-suite to its product-and-engineering talent here.
In other news:
Zirtue; Onward; Blue Onion Labs; Merge; Rachel Mendelson/Insider
2. Insider surveyed 43 investors — including Bain Capital Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners — about the most promising fintechs to watch. Here are 61 disruptive firms changing the world of banking, trading, and investing.
3. Santander has hired a law firm to investigate a group of bankers who visited a strip club, according to the Financial Times. The incident took place in February after the bank's global debt-capital-markets team were in the UK for company meetings.
4. Volkswagen is offering 911 million shares in the initial public offering of Porsche, in a nod to the iconic 911 sports car. Volkswagen is targeting a valuation of up to $ 75 billion for the IPO, and if successful, it would be the second-largest share sale in Germany. Goldman Sachs, Bank of America, JPMorgan, and Citi are leading the deal.
5. California's public pension plan has admitted that putting its private-equity program on hold for 10 years had cost it up to $ 18 billion in returns. Nicole Musicco, Calpers' chief investment officer, said the plan's returns had suffered from not deploying enough capital to private markets during a boom time.
6. Barry Sternlicht, Starwood Capital's chief executive, said the housing market could crash if the US Federal Reserve keeps raising rates. More rate hikes could decrease demand for housing and lower prices, Sternlicht said.
7. Credit Suisse is considering rebranding its investment bank as First Boston, the bank Credit Suisse acquired decades ago, Bloomberg reported. A rebranding would heighten speculation that the Swiss bank is evaluating a spin off or separation of its investment-banking unit.
8. Mortgages and credit cards are getting more expensive. But this is nothing compared to what we will see by the end of the year.
9. Insider asked venture capitalists which creator economy startups they considered the most promising. Here are 14 firms to watch in 2022.
10. Here is how a 34-year-old investor moved from Wall Street to psychedelics. Dina Burkitbayeva, an early psychedelics venture capitalist who founded Freedom Biosciences, has raised $ 10.5 million in seed financing from investors.
Done deals:
- Acrisure, a fintech company that operates an insurance broker and real-estate services company, has acquired B2Z Insurance. The deal is expected to complement Acrisure's partnership with tech insurance platform QuickInsured.
- Aditxt, a biotech company developing tech around monitoring the immune system, raised $ 20 million after selling 3.33 million shares on Nasdaq. H.C. Wainwright & Co. was the sole placement agent on the transaction.
Curated by Aaron Weinman in New York. Tips? Email aweinman@insider.com or tweet @aaronw11. Edited by Hallam Bullock (tweet @hallam_bullock) in London.
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