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Wal-Mart Gives Up Bank Plans

Bows to Congressional, Consumer Pressure

March 16, 2007

Wal-Mart • General Complaints • Black Friday • Customer Service • Dangerous Products, Conditions • Grocery/SuperCenters • Lawn & Garden • Monogram Credit Card Bank • Pet Department • Pharmacy • Photos • Pricing Disputes, Errors • Returns • Sporting Goods • Tire & Lube • Vision Center • WalMart.com --- • Employees Complaints --- News • Black Friday Ads Target Wal-Mart • Wal-Mart Era Is Over, Wall Street Journal Declares • Consumers Respond to Toxic Wal-Mart Pet Toy Stories • Wal-Mart Expands $4 Generic Program • Lab Tests Find Lead, Other Toxins in Pet Toys Sold at Wal-Mart • Wal-Mart Plans Its Own Debit Card • Wal-Mart To Open In-Store Health Clinics • Wal-Mart Gives Up Bank Plans • Congressman Challenges Wal-Mart Banking Plans • Wal-Mart Expands Generic Drug Plan • Christmas Returns to Wal-Mart • Wal-Mart Jump-Starts the Holiday Shopping Season • Wal-Mart Cuts Generic Rx Prices To $4 In Florida • Wal-Mart Ending Its Layaway Program • FDIC Puts Retailers' Banking Plans on Hold • Wal-Mart/Sam's Club Settle with Connecticut on Pricing Violations • Congress May End Wal-Mart's Banking Dreams • Arizona Charges Wal-Mart, AutoZone with Consumer Fraud • Michigan Fines Wal-Mart $1.5 Million for Item Pricing Violations • Opposition Grows as FDIC Examines Wal-Mart Banking Bid • Wal-Mart's Banking Plans Draw Critics • Michigan Challenges Wal-Mart on Item Pricing • Wal-Mart May Stock "Emergency" Contraceptives • Black Friday Gives Wal-Mart a Black Eye • Connecticut Probes Wal-Mart Pricing • Wal-Mart Pushing Extended Warranties on Electronics • Bankers Oppose Wal-Mart's Entry into Banking • Wal-Mart Target Of Union-Led Boycott • Wal-Mart to Pay $14.5 Million for California Gun Law Violations • Wal-Mart Target Of Union-Led Boycott • Wal-Mart Tries to Buff Its Image

On second thought, Wal-Mart says it doesn't need a bank after all. The nation's largest retailer has announced it will no longer seek a bank charter, ending a standoff with the banking industry and some members of Congress.

The decision came just one day after Rep. Paul Gillmor (D-Ohio) said the retail giant was pressing ahead with its banking plans despite objections from Congress, consumer activists and local banks.

Gillmor and Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) were pushing legislation designed to prevent commercial entities such as Wal-Mart from purchasing industrial loan corporations (ILCs), financial entities similar to banks but with fewer safeguards and less oversight. Gillmor and Frank's bill would also put ILCs under greater control of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).

In a statement, the company said it had notified the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. that it was ending efforts to establish an industrial bank chartered in Utah. The bank would have been used to process credit and debit card transactions.

But retail banks, especially community banks in the small towns where most Wal-Marts are located, saw it as an opening move to slide into the retail banking business. Many Wal-Mart stores currently lease space to local banks to operate branches inside Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart executives say they never had any intention of moving the retailer into banking, but said the controversy over the proposed industrial bank was so distracting that it just decided it wasn't worth it.

Government regulators appeared happy the controversy is ending.

"Wal-Mart made a wise choice," said FDIC chairman Sheila Bair in a statement. "This decision will remove the controversy surrounding their intentions."

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