Wow, Congress said 317-16 - nope you can’t have a bank of your very own. Man, the lobbyist for the banking industry must of worked double time to make this happen. I wonder how much money was spread around too. Lord, it’s sad that that’s one of the first questions that came to my mind…how much did it cost for the banking industry to keep banking out of the hands of Wal-Mart?

The House on Monday passed overwhelmingly a bill to prevent retailers like Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., from opening banks.

The legislation approved 371-16 prohibits companies that generate less than 85 percent of revenue from financial services from owning banks known as ILCs, industrial loan corporations.

Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said the bill ensures a dividing line between the banking and commerce.

“We do not want people who have as their primary business manufacturing or wholesale or retail sales also dealing with banking,” Frank said in a speech on the House floor. “We think that is an unwise mixture.”

Wal-Mart in March withdrew its application to charter an ILC corporation in Utah after intense criticism from local banks and organized labor.

Bankers claimed Wal-Mart would use an ILC charter to open branches in its stores and force out smaller banks. Many smaller banks have been concerned over an increase in the number of ILCs over the last few years.

The company maintained that it wanted a banking charter so that it could handle in-house its credit card, debit card and other electronic transactions.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation placed on hold its approval or acceptance of any new ILC applications last July after receiving applications from Wal-Mart and Home Depot, Inc. The FDIC extended the moratorium in January for another year to give Congress the opportunity to intervene.

Home Depot’s application is still pending.

John Kelly, director of financial services in Wal-Mart’s Washington office, said the company had no comment on the House vote.

“We’ve withdrawn the application and have no plans to reapply for a bank charter,” he said.