Report: Walmart to Expand Capabilities of Digital Wallet in Mexico

Walmart of Mexico and Central America (Walmex) is reportedly looking to expand the capabilities of its digital wallet.

The company said it expects to add transfers, withdrawals and remittances, possibly expanding to loans and other financial services further in the future, to the Cashi digital wallet, Reuters reported Tuesday (May 9).

These FinTech plans follow Walmex’s purchase of the payment app Trafalgar in April, according to the report.

While Cashi has been used only inside Walmex stores since its launch in 2018, the purchase of Trafalgar should enable it to be used anywhere digital wallets are accepted, the report said.

When announcing its acquisition of Trafalgar, Walmex said it would “evolve the value proposition of Cashi,” according to a Google translation of an April 10 Walmex press release.

Cashi currently allows customers to make digital payments at Walmex-affiliated stores and eCommerce sites. It will also soon allow sending and receiving remittances, the release said.

Following the acquisition, Cashi Digital accounts will also enable users to send and receive money through the SPEI payment network, make withdrawals at both company stores and ATMs, and make payments anywhere, per the release.

“We are celebrating a milestone in our company by venturing into the FinTech sector,” Marcelino Herrera Vegas, senior vice president of financial services at Walmex, said in the release, per the translation. “This acquisition is one more piece that will enable us to continue creating solutions for millions of customers and partners in Mexico, in line with our purpose of helping them save money and live better.”

There are both opportunities and risks in the expansion of Cashi’s capabilities, according to the Reuters report.

On the one hand, the FinTech market in Mexico is largely untapped, and fewer than half of the adults in the country have a bank account, the report said.

On the other hand, there are many risky clients in the country and delinquency rates on loans have historically been high, per the report.

Walmex has been working to reach the 42 million unbanked consumers across Mexico, many of whom are middle class, Ignacio Caride, who was Walmart’s senior vice president for eCommerce, payments and financial services in Mexico and Central America at the time and is now Walmex chief operating officer, told PYMNTS in July.

“We already have those clients going into stores every day,” Caride said at the time.