Treasury: Ten big banks can return $68 bln in TARP funds

Ten large banks can return $68 billion in TARP

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch)

A group of 10 large financial institutions were given the go-ahead by the Treasury Department on Tuesday to repay $68 billion in large government stakes they received as part of the government's bank bailout program."These repayments are an encouraging sign of financial repair, but we still have work to do," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner in a statement. J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and eight other institutions were approved to repay billions of dollars in government money they received, in part because they have issued long-term debt. Ten other financial institutions, including Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. have a longer road to recovery. They submitted plans for raising capital to the Federal Reserve on Monday. Other smaller banks have also returned bank bailout funds, bringing the total in returns to $70 billion