Wal-Mart says to unveil financial services plans

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, said on Tuesday that it will unveil plans for its financial services business on Wednesday.

Wal-Mart already offers a number of financial services in its stores, including check cashing, money orders and money transfers, and has been looking to expand the offerings.

It hit a stumbling block earlier this year in its application to operate a specialty bank known as an industrial loan company (ILC).

Wal-Mart insisted it wanted to use the bank to save money by internalizing credit-card and check transactions, but consumer groups and banks feared the retailer would eventually provide other retail banking services, leading to the demise of community banks.

In the face of opposition from politicians, consumer groups and community banks, it withdrew the application with U.S. bank regulators.

Instead, it said at the time that it would focus on introducing new financial services, and Jane Thompson, president of Wal-Mart Financial Services, said the retailer would have "a lot of things that will be coming out this year."