“Can one of America's largest grocers use the highest-frequency retail category — the weekly grocery run — to pull customer payments off card rails and recapture interchange?”
Kroger is a 140-year-old grocery retailer that has steadily layered embedded financial services onto its core supermarket business — a branded Mastercard credit card, a REWARDS debit card linked directly to customer checking accounts, in-store Money Services (check cashing, bill pay, money transfers via Western Union/Ria, money orders, prepaid cards), and the Kroger Pay in-app wallet. Its financial-services ambition is defensive and interchange-driven: grocery is the highest-frequency retail category in the US, and Kroger is exploring pay-by-bank rails alongside peers Walmart and Ahold Delhaize to route transactions off Visa/Mastercard. Payment processing was consolidated under Worldpay in a 2025 exclusive multi-year agreement.
Kroger discloses First Bank and Trust as its sponsor bank, according to the Embedded Finance Index 2026.
Kroger does not disclose a bank charter of its own; its banking services are provided through First Bank and Trust.
Kroger processes payments through Worldpay and Kroger Pay (self-operated).
Kroger's cards are issued through Imprint on the Mastercard and Visa networks.
Kroger uses Western Union and Ria for FX and cross-border payouts.
The Embedded Finance Index 2026 maps 5 layers in Kroger's stack: Payments / PSP (Worldpay and Kroger Pay (self-operated)); Card issuing (Imprint); Card network (Mastercard and Visa); Sponsor bank (First Bank and Trust); FX & payouts (Western Union and Ria).
Kroger was founded by Bernard Kroger and is founded in 1883, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
Get a read on where your own stack stands against Kroger and the rest of its category — what they built versus bought, which providers they use, and where the gaps in your own strategy and competitive set actually are.