"The application in July 2005 by Wal-Mart to obtain a specialized bank charter from the state of Utah and to obtain federal deposit insurance reopened a national debate concerning the separation of banking and commerce. Though Wal-Mart withdrew its application in March 2007, the issue and the...

With banking currently in turmoil, a new formula for bank structure and activities, for deposit insurance, and for bank regulation is necessary. This paper reviews the dilemmas of the current structure of banking in the United States and explains how the banking sector arrived at its current...

The massive insolvency of the Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation has created a public policy crisis of major proportions. This paper provides a framework for understanding the basic problems of deposit insurance, explores the origins of the current crisis, describes the regulatory...

The anti-tying section (Sec. 106) of the Bank Holding Company Act of 1970 severely limits U.S. banks' or bank holding companies' ability to link one product or service to another. Though the provisions of Sec. 106 resemble the anti-tying provisions of the U.S. antitrust laws, the latter are...