Alarm over US regulator's call to let retailers, tech giants be banks

New York

SMALL Main Street banks vowed on Wednesday to fight any review of a ban that prevents retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc and tech companies like Amazon.com Inc from becoming fully fledged banks.

Keith Noreika, a top US banking regulator, stirred disquiet among community bankers with his call for a review of the current regulations. The proposal by the acting Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) was made at a banking conference in New York and comes as technology companies such as Amazon and Apple Inc have already broken into the financial arena with payment services and different types of lending.

"Mixing banking and commerce is a bad idea that keeps recurri…