Walmart vs. the big five banksWill the retail giant's entry into Canada's financial services sector mean potential savings for you?
Canada's Big Five banks better pay attention — Walmart is moving into the neighbourhood. The retail giant, which has used low prices to steal business away from competitors all over the world, crashed the Canadian financial services party in June with the launch of its Walmart Rewards MasterCard. Could Walmart's presence shake up Canada's cozy banking oligopoly and drive down fees for banking services and investment products?
So far, the
Walmart Canada Bank
is focusing on the MasterCard, but other products may follow in the future. "We'll continue to look at other areas where we can help our customers save money," says
Walmart Canada Bank
CEO and president Trudy Fahie. "At this point I'm not going to speculate on what those products will be."
Laurence Booth, a finance professor at
Rotman School of Management
, doesn't see Walmart driving down fees at the Big Five overnight. He says that even Walmart will be a fringe player, much like Canadian Tire Financial Services and President's Choice Financial. "We have a wide range of credit card and financial services available to us, and adding Walmart to the list doesn't do that much."