Home Depot still seeking bank deal

At lot of attention has been paid to Wal-Mart's aborted attempt to start up an industrial bank. But quietly, Home Depot has been inching even closer. It has not given up on its desire to purchase EnerBank USA, a unit of CMS Energy. Home Depot agreed to a deal last May. The giant retailer wants to be able to offer home improvement loans. But it has hit another snag. Both companies have agreed to push back the close date by three months to April 30, 2008, giving Home Depot more time to work out some regulatory issues. It may be that we'll see some political moves against Home Depot like we did in the Wal-Mart case. The banking industry has certainly not been shy about opposing such moves. The FDIC is studying the matter.

For more:
- here's an AP article