Wal-Mart has suffered a number of setbacks in its attempts to get into the retail banking business.

 In early 2006, the company applied for an industrial-bank charter in Utah. But last July, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), issued an unprecedented six-month moratorium on all applications for specialized banks, effectively freezing Wal-Mart's effort.

 State authorities in Utah, which also must approve the application, have yet to respond. In addition, powerful members of Congress are lining up to pass laws that would block Wal-Mart, or any non-financial company, from getting into the banking business. 

The company has been trying to get into banking since the late 1990s. It has already been turned down in its attempts to buy a savings-and-loan in Oklahoma and a bank in California.  

The UFCW and the Independent Community Bankers of America have joined with trade associations of grocers and convenience stores in a group called the Sound Banking Coalition that opposes Wal-Mart’s banking efforts.

 That group is part of a broad coalition of opponents that have lined up to oppose Wal-Mart's banking efforts. This group includes large and small banks, the Federal Reserve, real-estate agents and congressmen of both parties.

 The inability to enter the banking business continues the trend of bad news for the world's biggest retailer, which is already facing slowing growth in the U.S. and has stumbled in several overseas markets.

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