THANKS, W!

City National repays half of TARP funds (E. Scott Reckard, December 31, 2009, LA Times)

When City National Corp. accepted a $400-million investment from the U.S. Treasury during last year's economic free fall, the regional bank said it was well capitalized and didn't really need the money.

And as the economy stabilized this year, the parent of City National Bank raised $550 million in additional capital by selling stock and bonds, with Chief Executive Russell Goldsmith expressing eagerness to repay the debt.

On Wednesday, regulators granted half of City National's wish, allowing it to repurchase $200 million of the preferred stock it had sold to the Treasury. The bank, the largest based in Los Angeles, said it expected to repay the remaining $200 million next year. [...]

With the repayment last week of $45 billion in TARP money by Wells Fargo & Co. and Citigroup Inc., the Treasury Department said its total bank investments of $245 billion, initially projected to cost taxpayers $76 billion, were now expected to earn a profit after payments to the government of dividends and interest as well as repayments of principal.

One of the banks where our options aren't profitable yet, but will be, which is why the bank bailout will turn a profit (in addition to saving the global economy).

Posted by Orrin Judd at December 31, 2009 6:47 AM