Bank of America Corp., Connecticut’s biggest out of state bank, is looking to pay back some of the billions in federal bailout aid it has received in an effort to get out from underneath the government’s thumb, according to a published report.
Meanwhile, the government wants the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank to pay about $500 million to terminate a tentative pact in which the U.S. agreed to share losses on certain Bank of America assets, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment today on the newspaper’s report.
Several banks, including JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, have already repaid aid they received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Doing so removed those firms from having their executive compensation packages approved by Kenneth Feinberg, the Obama administration’s pay czar. Bankers worried that the pay rules put them at a competitive disadvantage in retaining talented employees.
Bank of America is awaiting Feinberg’s approval of its 2009 executive pay packages.
Bank of America isn’t looking to pay back all of the $45 billion it received in TARP aid at once, according to the paper, but may give back the $20 billion it received in January to help it absorb teetering investment bank Merrill Lynch & Co. (AP)
