Opposition Voiced to Home Depot’s Latest Venture
Home Depot’s plan to purchase EnerBank USA, an industrial loan corporation, is receiving strong opposition from the American Bankers Association and the National Association of Realtors. Citing a potential conflict of interest between financial and non-financial commerce, the two groups are urging the FDIC to block the purchase.
Earlier in the year, Walmart faced intense opposition when in attempted to acquire deposit insurance for its proposed ILC. That acquisition was blocked by various interest groups as well. Discussions by house banking committee members suggest that they intend to introduce legislation that will address the ILC issue in a more comprehensive manner, and will soon ask the FDIC to postpone decisions on all ILC applications until Congress can act.