By Kylie Madry

MEXICO CITY, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Walmart's Mexico and Central America unit WALMEX.MX is preparing to launch its debit card service, an executive said on Thursday.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Walmex, as the company is also known, is Mexico's largest retailer. It bought a payment app in 2023 to become its fintech service, known as Cashi, which faces competition from other major market players such as lender Nubank and e-commerce giant MercadoLibre.

KEY QUOTES

"Very soon we'll be able to launch our Cashi account," said Walmex's head of financial services, Marcelino Herrera, "where we'll offer an account with a debit card."

"For a company like Walmart this is new, really important. The card; being able to receive remittances digitally to the account."

BY THE NUMBERS

Walmex is also eyeing expanding its credit service this year, Herrera said. It currently signs off on loans of up to 20,000 pesos ($978.24).

WHAT'S NEXT

Walmex is not currently considering applying for a banking license, Herrera said, "but we aren't ruling it out for the future."

($1 = 20.4448 Mexican pesos)

(Reporting by Kylie Madry; Editing by Kirsten Donovan)

((Kylie.Madry@thomsonreuters.com;))