The news: Walmart’s OnePay and Synchrony will issue a new co-brand Mastercard and a private-label card. 

Both cards will be embedded and managed in the OnePay app.

How we got here: Walmart held a nearly two-decade-long relationship with Synchrony Financial before suing the issuer and moving the program to Capital One. 

This relationship also soured, concluding in another lawsuit and a brief end to any Walmart co-brand cards at all. Capital One has since converted many of those cardholders to its own Quicksilver card.

Rebuilding an empire: Before Walmart’s break with Capital One, the program serviced 10 million customers and held $8.5 billion in loans outstanding, per Fitch Ratings. 

Synchrony will have to regain these customers, as Capital One’s portfolio will not roll over to the issuer. This poses a central challenge for Synchrony—it will likely have to entice Walmart’s lower-income consumer base to reapply for a new line of credit. 

To capture all possible cardholders, Walmart and OnePay will offer some customers who don’t qualify for the co-brand card the private-label card instead. 

Boost for Synchrony: As an issuer with significant exposure to retailers like JCPenny and Lowes that have struggled with weak sales, Synchrony could get a nice bump from rebuilding the Walmart portfolio.

• Synchrony’s net revenues and payment volumes fell 23% and 4% YoY, respectively, in Q1 2025. 
• Its large portfolio of private label and co-branded cards tend to have a cardholder base with lower credit scores—and higher delinquencies—than other issuers. 

Regaining Walmart OnePay’s business will be a huge boost to the issuer in terms of payment volume; Walmart-owned Sam’s Club already ranks among issuer’s top five largest retailers. 

Our take: Walmart’s OnePay is building out its financial services. It’s offering savings accounts with 5% APY on up to $100,000 and comprehensive remittance services through its Money Center. 

If OnePay’s role in the co-brand portfolio is successful, Klarna should take caution. OnePay test-drove its own BNPL product before outsourcing to the Swedish fintech. Walmart is not shy about breaking off partnerships to better position itself in the market. The massive retailer’s connectivity between its customer base, supplier relationships, and financing apparatus positions OnePay to be a disruptor on the scene.