Wal-Mart Faces Battle Over Foray Into Banking

The AP reports:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., ever looking for ways to expand its already huge empire, is asking the government for permission to move into an entirely different industry: running its own in-house bank.

The world's largest retailer will ask the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Monday for permission to open a bank that can process millions of checks and credit card payments each month. The company says it's not interested in running a consumer bank, as well, but some of its opponents still fear that such a step could hurt local banks much like the mom-and-pop stores were during Wal-Mart's rapid expansion.


This is Wal-Mart's fourth bid at running a bank - and its request unleashed an unprecedented flood of comments to the FDIC. In response, the FDIC scheduled its first public hearings ever on a bank application.

"It's a landmark battle in both U.S. business and financial services history," said Jerry Comizio, a financial services lawyer for Thacher Proffitt & Wood LLP in Washington, D.C., and a former senior attorney with the Securities and Exchange Commission and Deputy General Counsel of the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Thrift Supervision.

You can bet some people want to restrict competition so ATM fees can stay high.I'll bet you can you guess who doesn't want Wal-Mart to get into banking.