Activist investor William Ackman has been pressing Target to cut up its credit card operations for years. He might finally get his way if a new Obama administration proposal becomes policy.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the White House's financial-overhaul plan includes a proposal to better regulate companies that aren't banks but offer loans and other financial products to customers.

Target and UnitedHealth Group are among the non-banks that use something called an ILC charter to offer banking services to customers. Obama's proposal would force these operations to comply with the same regulations that full-fledged banks need to follow.

Industry experts tell the newspaper that corporate lenders would likely shut down their charter operations rather than subject themselves to more intensive government oversight.