Treasury Department

As largest US banks Wells Fargo and Citigroup announced their plans to repay the taxpayer money the US government now can reduce its bailout investments in banks by more than 75%, stated the US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday.

He said: "With the recent announcements on repayments, we are now on track to reduce TARP bank investments by more than 75 percent, while earning a healthy profit on that commitment.”

 Bank of America will likely extend its search for a new CEO into the next year if the board is unable to find a candidate within the following several days as reported by the Bloomberg News who cited the sources familiar with the matter.

Bloomberg notes that at least four external candidates including Citigroup director Michael O' Neill had rebuffed approaches about the job. Thus, the directors may extend a November 26 target date for an appointment and beyond Lewis' expected December 31 retirement date.

 Three more large investment firms have raised sufficient capital to participate in the joint partnership with the government to purchase toxic assets from banks.

The Treasury Department said Alliance Bernstein LP and BlackRock Inc., both headquartered in New York City, and Wellington Management Co., based in Boston, had all raised the $500 million minimum to begin operations.

According to the New York Times, the US government may own 70 % stake in the restructured General Motors, the ailing auto maker which is battling to avert a possible bankruptcy. The latest plan for the troubled auto maker, which is expected to file for bankruptcy by Monday, calls for the Treasury Department to receive about 70 % of a restructured GM.

The Obama administration called for an end to unjust credit card industry practices such as retroactive interest rate increases for any reason, late-fee traps that penalize borrowers with weekend or middle-of-the-day deadlines and teaser rates that last less than six months. The Treasury Department released a written statement where the administration outlined practices it would like Congress to reform.

The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board carrying out the Financial Stability Plan announced the implementation of the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF), a component of the Consumer and Business Lending Initiative (CBLI). The TALF has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households.