FDIC Stalls Wal-Mart

The Salt Lake Tribune reports:

Seeking more time to weigh Wal-Mart's controversial Utah banking proposal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. on Friday slapped a six-month moratorium on issuing new deposit insurance for industrial banks.
The decision came just days after a coalition of 32 national groups, including the American Bankers Association and the AFL-CIO, wrote Congress asking members to step in before the FDIC acted and block Wal-Mart's bid to open its ILC, or industrial loan company.
Wal-Mart's application, along with a subsequent proposal by The Home Depot to acquire an existing Utah-based ILC, has drawn widespread criticism from bankers outside of the state, some lawmakers and community activists. They argue that letting nonfinancial companies operate ILCs eventually will harm the nation's financial services industry and erode a long-standing national policy of separation of banking and commerce.

Not many people are for free markets.