TARP Payback Scorecard

Banking, finance, and taxes

Published: August 21, 2014 2:07 pm

Last Updated: April 28, 2020 5:46 am

Following the financial crisis of 2008, the U.S. Treasury was authorized to commit up to $700 billion to a troubled asset relief program — TARP — in an effort to stop the bleeding in the U.S. economy. All told, U.S. taxpayers disbursed $424.8 billion to the various parts of the program, and as of August 20th, has collected $439.8 billion in cash back.

According to SNL Financial, there are 26 publicly traded banks and thrift companies that still hold outstanding TARP investments as of August 11th. The total TARP investment in banks and thrifts came to $250.48 billion of which $1.12 billion remains outstanding. The Treasury holds a $94.5 million investment in the common stock of First BanCorp (NYSE: FBP), the largest single TARP investment still outstanding.

SNL also noted that the previously largest remaining holder of TARP funds, Puerto Rico’s Popular Inc. (NASDAQ: BPOP), redeemed $935 million in U.S. Treasury-held securities on July 2nd.

On August 13th, the Treasury Department said it plans to sell the remaining shares it holds in Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE: ALLY) through a pre-defined written trading plan. Treasury sold 95 million shares of Ally’s stock in the company’s initial public offering (IPO) in April at $25 per share. Underwriters later accepted their option on another 7.25 million shares at the IPO price, leaving the Treasury with about 75 million shares. The federal government invested $17.2 billion in Ally and so far has recovered $17.8 billion, a profit of about $625 million.

The out-of-pocket cost to taxpayers as of June 30th is estimated by the Treasury Department to be around $37.5 billion.

ALSO READ: What $16.5 Billion Really Means to Bank of America

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