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 WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is raising concerns about a legal provision that lets companies own a certain kind of bank, including one Wal-Mart Stores Inc. wants to operate in Utah.
The Fed chief's comments were aimed at an exemption in federal law that allows companies to own such banks, called industrial loan companies.
"The question of whether, or to what extent, the mixing of banking and commerce should be permitted is an important issue and one that we believe should be made by Congress," Bernanke said. "The decision has important ramifications for the structure of the American financial system and the economy, particularly because any widespread combinations of banking and commerce likely would be irreversible."
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