Well that about 20 of them have repaid 1

It speaks more of living dead ("dead men walking") on Wall Street. More than a year after its launch in October 2008, the banking rescue plan seems to have borne fruit. Main beneficiaries of TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program), reviewed and corrected by the administration Obama, Citigroup and Bank of America (BofA) were able to repay a portion of the State aid which had been granted to them to strengthen their own funds and promote credit.

After the last repayments of Wells Fargo and Citigroup, the total amount of the refunds under the TARP to $ 164 billion (and will be 175 billion end of 2010, according to the Treasury). But the situation of the regional banks hit hardest by the crisis of the commercial real estate, remains fragile and the TARP has not had the effect expected on the revival of the credit.

"Open taps." "Everywhere I go, I hear small business credit or extension of loans, who have great difficulty to obtain, even if they are profitable", deplored the democratic New York Senator, Charles Schumer.

According to the latest investigation of the Treasury to the first twenty-two American banks, the new loans granted by total has reached $ 240 billion in October, down 11 on average for the previous six months. Him-only, Citigroup has saw its production of loans drop 18 in October. In addition, the impact of the TARP is much less persuasive on regional banks or medium-sized. Well that about 20 of them have repaid $ 1.8 billion of aid to the Treasury in mid-2009, the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) had yet to announce the dissolution of seven regional banks (First Federal Bank of California, Imperial Capital Bank...), on the eve of Christmas, bringing to 140 the number of bankruptcies of regional banks in 2009.

Despite these mixed results, US Treasury j. overall positive balance of the TARP, especially considering that its component of stabilization of the banking sector should translate into a profit to the taxpayer, the total of its exposure to be reduced by three quarters at the end of 2010. According to its estimates, the total of 245 billion of public money invested by the Federal State in the banking sector in 2009, which initially was to result in a cost of 76 billion dollars for the taxpayer, will provide a positive result with the dividends, interest, sales of warrants and refund advance.

In fact, allowed banks to repay the aid could redeem the warrants held by the Treasury. Although 55 banks out of a total of 665 assisted banks were still unable to pay the lower dividend on shares préféren illustrating received by Treasury in exchange for capital injections, it intend to take advantage of the sale of its warrants or subscription rights implementation in the coming weeks. This positive balance of the stabilization plan is however disputed by the Inspector of the TARP, Neil Barofsky, appointed in the fall of 2008 by George Bush, who considers "extremely unlikely" the hypothesis of a profit to the taxpayer.

A semifailures

For his part, Elizabeth Warren, Chair Congressional Oversight Panel, the parliamentary body of the control of the TARP, believes that the Bank rescue plan has proved both successful stabilization of large institutions and a failure in its contribution to the revival of credit to businesses and households. "The TARP was not allowed for the sole purpose of relief of large institutions". "Congress has specifically stated that it expected benefits in terms of impact on personal bankruptcies and the relaunching of the economy," recently noted Elizabeth Warren. A way to remember that, even stable, large institutions "too big to fail" remain largely stigmatised by the TARP in the eyes of the American Republic have opinion. And that they will have to be taken into account in their credit and compensation policy...