Archive for the ‘TARP’ Category
July 20th, 2009 | 
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Neil Barofsky, the inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), is due to deliver his report to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee tomorrow, Tuesday July 20th.
Barofsky, who is the government’s top bailout watchdog says that the total price tag for federal support stemming from the financial crisis could reach as much as $23.7 trillion in the after factoring in commitments from dozens of programs that were implemented throughout the federal government since 2007, and added that just the financial exposure of TARP and its related programs could reach $3 trillion.
He says that TARP, which started as a $700 billion bailout has expanded way beyond that;
“TARP has evolved into a program of unprecedented scope, scale and complexity. Moreover, TARP does not function in a vacuum but is rather part of the broader government efforts to stabilize the financial system”.
The estimate covers commitments that could have been made by the Federal Reserve, Treasury Department, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Federal Housing Administration, the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies.
In his report, Barofsky also says that the Treasury Department has repeatedly failed to adopt recommendations that his office believes would bring more transparency and accountability to the execution of the bailout.
In a written response, the Treasury again rejected that call saying, “Although it might be tempting to do so, it is not possible to say that investment of TARP dollars resulted in particular loans, investments or other activities by the recipient”.
The report found that fifteen banks had used funds that were acquired from the FDIC to buy weaker rivals, with the banks saying that “the acquisitions helped preserve banking services to customers”.
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Posted in administration, bailout, banking system, crisis, deficits, economy, federal debt, Federal Reserve, finance, financial crisis, financial system, Obama, president, stimulus, stimulus package, TARP, toxic assets, transparency, Treasury, US banking, US banks, US economy, Washington, White House | 
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Banks, U.S. look for TARP end game | CharlotteObserver.com & The …
www.charlotteobserver.com2/21/12
The federal government's desire to end the politically unpopular bank bailout program could change how a number of Charlotte-area community banks pay back their share.
Pulling back the TARP | Richmond BizSense
www.richmondbizsense.com2/21/12
Essex Bank and its holding company Community Bankers Trust Corp. is seeking approval to once again begin making payments to the TARP Capital Purchase Program.
The U.S. Treasury has given ten banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley the go ahead to buy back almost $68 billion of government shares, which will effectively free them government oversight and political interference.
Other banks which are said to have met government approval are
JPMorgan, American Express Co., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., BB&T Corp., Capital One Financial Corp., Northern Trust Corp., State Street Corp. and U.S. Bancorp.
The repayments come almost eight months after the Treasury provided nine banks with the first $125 billion from the $700 billion TARP fund.
Amongst banks which didn’t win approval are Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said, “These repayments are an encouraging sign of financial repair, but we still have work to do”, and Jennifer Thompson, who is an analyst at Portales Partners LLC in New York said, “They’re in some ways picking winners and losers. There might initially be somewhat of a cloud lifted off the banks that are able to repay TARP”.
The Treasury announced today, June 9th, that combined with repayments that have already been received from twenty other firms, the government will have gotten back about $70 billion so far, and added that dividend payments on the shares issued to the government under the Capital Purchase Program total about $4.5 billion to date, including $1.8 billion from the ten banks that have now been released.
The treasury statement also noted that, “Proceeds from the TARP repayments will help reduce the federal government’s borrowing and the national debt”. “The repayments also boost the cushion to respond to any future financial instability that might otherwise jeopardize economic recovery”. “Firms buying back the government’s preferred shares also have the right to repurchase warrants the Treasury holds at fair market value”.
