Now Home Depot Wants To Be A Bank

After a leaked email suggesting Walmart was planning a full-scale retail banking enterprise (rather than a credit card processing division and they’d previously indicated) became public, the retailer pulled its plans to open a bank. Home Depot, on the other hand, is standing firm. From the Birmingham Business Journal:

Atlanta-based The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) also has applied to run its own bank…The bank would allow Home Depot to enable contractors to offer home improvement loans to their own remodeling customers.

On Friday, Home Depot said it remains committed to its plans to buy EnerBank.

“Any decision by Wal-Mart concerning its application for a new ILC in no way affects Home Depot’s plans concerning EnerBank,” Home Depot said in a statement. “The company’s application for a change in control is on file with the FDIC. Meanwhile, The Home Depot is hopeful Congress will act so the FDIC can move forward with its review based on the merits of each individual application.”

This gives us a bad feeling that we can not easily describe. Its the same feeling we get when he hear about cousins who marry. —MEGHANN MARCO

Wal-Mart pulls application for bank, Home Depot stands firm [Birmingham Business Journal]

(Photo: Paytonc)

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