Biz Brief: Walmart Invests in Green Dot

Walmart (WMT) will take a minority position in Green Dot, a provider of prepaid debit cards, according to several media reports. The financial company already sells its prepaid cards at 50,000 locations, including Walmart stores.

"In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission this month, Green Dot said it had issued 2,208,552 shares of Class A common stock to Wal-Mart," Reuters reports. Green Dot, which filed for an IPO earlier this year, has been in talks with federal officials to buy its own bank to extend the reach of its business. The Financial Timesreports thatthe company "reached agreement in February to acquire Bonneville Bank, a small Utah-based commercial bank, for $15.7 million."

Walmart offers some bank-like services, including check-cashing, but state regulators have prevented it from actually owning a bank.