Wal-Mart Opens Bank in Mexico

After being rebuffed in its attempts to establish an industrial loan company, Wal-Mart is finding other ways to get its foot in the door of the financial services industry.  Wal-Mart is targeting the large unbanked and underbanked population.  First it entered the prepaid card market.  Now Wal-mart has opened Banco Wal-Mart in Mexico, with plans to open 80 more.  With only 24% of the households in the country having bank accounts, Wal-Mart is hoping to reach out to the unbanked and underbanked while taking advantage of the $23 billion dollar market for money sent to Mexico by Mexican immigrants in the U.S. every year. 

The banking industry slammed the front door in Wal-Mart's face.  Wal-Mart is now attempting to crawl in the window that was left open a crack.