US bank bailouts to be cheaper than expected - Business - Evening Standard
       

US bank bailouts to be cheaper than expected

The US government today declared its Tarp programme, which saw taxpayers guarantee the value of duff loans made by banks, will be $200 billion (£121.8 billion) less costly than expected.

It had forecast Tarp would cost $341 billion after banks had repaid the government for capital injections and other investments. However, they have already returned $71 billion and a planned repayment by Bank of America would bring that figure down to $116 billion.

Meanwhile, it emerged today the US Treasury department is keeping the 34% stake in Citigroup gained when bailing the bank out with $45 billion until a deal is struck to repay all its taxpayer handouts.

The US taxpayer currently has a paper profit of more than $6 billion from its Citi shares, but the Treasury fears these would collapse rapidly if it sold down its stake too soon.

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