10 Banks Allowed To Repay TARP

(Update 8:39 am PST) So Tim Geithner released the statement but he didn't name the banks? The banks who have said they are repaying the TARP are (according to Bloomberg):

• J.P. Morgan Chase
• Morgan Stanley
• American Express
• Bank of New York Mellon
• BB&T
• Capital One
• Northern Trust
• State Street
• US Bancorp

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According to various news sources (here's one), the Treasury Department is likely to announce as early as Tuesday morning 10 banks that will be allowed to repay TARP money. ["Allowed"...]

The names of the banks unofficially mentioned are:

• J.P. Morgan Chase
• Goldman Sachs
• American Express
• State Street
• Bank of New York Mellon
• Morgan Stanley

The names of the banks unofficially pronounced "doomed", tethered to the government for a foreseeable future, are:

• Bank of America
• Citigroup

Bank of America could have avoided at least half the trouble by not buying Merrill Lynch, no matter how Ken Lewis was threatened by the Bernanke-Paulson duo. Citigroup might have been better off today if it had acquired Wachovia's good assets with FDIC's help.

According to this article from AP,

"Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said putting Citigroup and Bank of America at a disadvantage might be part of the government's plan.

""Both banks need to downsize, so this is going to cause them to lose talent if the constraints are effective," said Johnson, now at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Business. "That may be, given the political constraints, the most effective way to reduce systemic risk."'

So does that mean they will be the banking equivalent of Chrysler and GM, being reduced to a government's tool to achieve its policy goals? On top of that, they will be managed by 3 different Presidential czars (Economic, Bailout, Pay) possibly 4 (Bank), who will come before the government official, Treasury Secretary Geithner.

Who's missing among big names?

• Wells Fargo

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