US-based Walmart has announced its partnership with Fiserv in order to enable Pay-by-Bank payments for online purchases, an initiative that is set to start in 2025. Following this announcement, the collaboration will allow Walmart to include lower transaction costs, faster settlements, fewer payment declines, as well as reduced fraud, while customers will have the possibility to avoid stacked pending transactions as well.

The company mentioned that clients may face challenges like added friction and lost credit card rewards at the beginning, but the early pilot results have exceeded its expectations for Pay-by-Bank adoption. More insights on the Walmart x Fiserv partnership Throughout this collaboration, starting in 2025, users will be enabled to make online purchases using Pay-by-Bank by connecting their bank account through the use of Fiserv’s AllData platform. The service is set to facilitate authentication and security link bank accounts.

This process will be done through integrations with Plaid, MX, Akoya, and Finicity, which will allow a secure, efficient, and fast connection to customer accounts. At the same time, Walmart will leverage Fiserv’s NOW Network, which will route the transactions through The Clearing House’s Real Time Payments network and the Federal Reserve’s FedNow. The solution aims to reach as many banks and financial institutions as possible, in order to provide customers and businesses the ability to send, access, and receive funds immediately while supporting credit push payments.

From a customer perspective, the benefits of Pay-by-Bank will be more difficult to find, as they do not experience any cost savings, but might experience added friction in connecting their bank account to Walmart’s platform. In the event of their account being hacked, fraudsters will also have the possibility to make purchases directly through their account, instead of a credit card. With this in mind, Walmart is touting the ability of Pay-by-Bank to optimise the manner in which clients avoid stacked pending transactions.

When the transfer is processed as a real-time payment, clients will get immediate access in order to see that transaction come through securely and efficiently. In addition, the consumer advantage of instant Pay-by-Bank over debit cards is avoiding stacked pending transactions, which can open them up to the risk of overdraft or non-sufficient funds fees from their bank. Source: Link .