CHALMETTE, La.-Discount retail giant Wal-Mart opened its 1,000th in-store Wal-Mart Money Center last week, and announced plans to open another 500 of the bank-like branches this year. Wal-Mart unsuccessfully applied for a bank charter in 2007, and therefore cannot make loans or accept deposits in the branches, but that didn't stop the retailer from creating something akin to a bank branch with The Money Center.
Money Center outlets located inside Wal-Mart stores do not offer loans or accept deposits, but they do offer other banking products such as check cashing, money transfers, bill payment, tax assistance and the Wal-Mart MoneyCard, a stored value Visa card. With the opening of 500 new MoneyCenter branches this year Wal-Mart will have the bank-like facilities in 40% of its 3,763 retail outlets nationwide.
