H&R Block sells assets to get out of banking

7/13/2013

H&R Block Inc., the largest U.S. tax preparer, plans to sell its bank assets to Kentucky’s Republic Bancorp Inc. in an effort to exit Federal Reserve oversight.

The deal will reduce earnings by about 6 cents to 9 cents a share on an annual basis and result in one-time expenses of 3 cents to 4 cents in the fiscal year ending April, 2014, Kansas City-based H&R Block said Friday.

H&R Block hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. last year to evaluate options for its banking unit amid new Fed rules requiring savings and loans to hold more capital.

Financial-services firms including insurers MetLife Inc. and Allstate Corp. also have retreated from banking since passage of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act.