Goldman, Morgan Stanley Said to Apply for TARP Exit

May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley applied to repay the combined $45 billion they received in October from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program, said people familiar with the matter.

The three New York-based banks need approval from the Federal Reserve, their primary supervisor, to return the money, according to the people, who requested anonymity because the application process isn’t public. Spokesmen for the three banks declined to comment, as did Calvin Mitchell, a spokesman for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

If approved, the refunds would be the biggest yet to the $700 billion TARP program established by Congress last year during the investor furor that followed the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Banks are keen to repay the money to shake off restrictions on compensation and hiring that were imposed on TARP recipients in February.

“It really is a way for them to break from the herd,” said Peter Sorrentino, a senior portfolio manager at Huntington Asset Advisors in Cincinnati, which holds Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan shares among the $13.8 billion it oversees. “It’s a great way to attract customers, personnel, capital.”

JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley were among nine banks that were persuaded in mid-October by then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to accept the first $125 billion of capital injections from the TARP program to help restore stability to the financial markets.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aIHHTX8Y35Lo&refer=home

Let them repay TARP and then short them into oblivion. Arrogance has to be punished.

 

They get chastised for taking govt money and have to "apply" to repay it. Ha! This government is a piece of work.

 

Is GS going to repay the tens of billions they were funneled via AIG?

 

No, they already said thanks for the bonuses and F U to the taxpayers.

 

They are not healthy banks, because they are still dependent on FDIC backed debt offerings. GS has benefitted more from FDIC debt guarantees than it did from TARP!

 

Now GS is going to start gobbling up little banks that are actually much healthier and safer than GS to expand its deposit base and spread around the poison it has on its balance sheet.

Stiglitz is right, too big to fail should mean too big to take on leverage.

 

Those were trading gains. Why would they return them?

If you think it was corp welfare (and I'm not saying it wasn't) why are you not demanding the return of the money "funnelled" to the Euro-banks?

^ seriously. no-one ever answers that one.

P.S.: I'm just angry that I'm not long GS.