UFCW Applauds FDIC Decision to Extend Industrial Bank Moratorium

The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) enthusiastically supports the recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) decision to give Congress another year to consider whether to prohibit companies such as Wal-Mart stores from acquiring their own banks.

The UFCW applauds the FDIC’s unanimous vote to delay and possibly stop Wal-Mart’s entry into the banking industry.

UFCW International Vice President and Director of the UFCW Legislative and Political Action Department Michael J. Wilson said, "Local community banks and other financial institutions are critical to economic vitality and diversity. In recent years, Wal-Mart has destroyed local businesses and dismantled local economies. If Wal-Mart can get a bank and push local banks out of business, its economic control in these communities will be almost complete."

The UFCW has been part of the Sound Banking Coalition, which has fought Wal-Mart’s industrial loan company (ILC) application because of its interference with the historical and necessary separation between banking and commerce. A Wal-Mart-owned bank would place a dangerous concentration of capital in the hands of one single company. While the fight to stop Wal-Mart from acquiring its own bank will continue, the moratorium puts a significant roadblock in the company’s plan to monopolize the American consumer. It also helps ensure, at least for now, that federal and state lawmakers will have the added time necessary to pass legislation that will prevent Wal-Mart from further jeopardizing the nation’s economy.

The UFCW supports and commends the FDIC’s decision for fulfilling its obligation to protect working people’s financial security.

The Sound Banking Coalition is made up of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA), the National Grocers Association (NGA), the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and the UFCW.