Wal-Mart has so far been stymied on entering the banking business. Who needs to be a bank when you can be a stock broker? From the Wall Street Journal:
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has teamed with discount brokerage ShareBuilder Corp. to offer low-cost investment services, marking the retailer’s initial expansion of its financial-services offerings since abandoning its bid to start an industrial bank.
Bellevue, Wash.-based ShareBuilder won’t share revenue from the service with Wal-Mart because of securities regulations prohibiting such arrangements, said Jeff Seely, ShareBuilder’s chairman and chief executive. Wal-Mart introduced the service, titled Wal-Mart Easy Investing by ShareBuilder, early this month with a link on its Web site. It soon will begin promoting the service in its U.S. stores, too.