The Treasury has finally allowed 10 big backs to repay some part of the TARP money they received during the height of the financial turmoil. Though the Treasury did not specifically identify these banks, allowing them to make the announcement on their own, the banks have been identified as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, US Bancorp, BB&T Corporation, Capital One Financial, American Express, State Street Corporation, and the Bank of New York and Mellon.

Two of these banks namely JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are deemed financially strong enough to leave the TARP program. It is expected that the 10 big banks will return an estimated $68.3 billion back to the government. The latest estimate is dramatically more than the original repayment estimate of $25 billion. Other financial institutions specifically Morgan Stanley and Northern Trust are expected to repay the government as well. Previously, Morgan Stanley was asked to raise $1.8 billion after “failing” the stress test.

The $68.3 billion to be repaid this year is around a quarter of the TARP bailout fund. 22 community banks have already paid back $1.9 billion to the Treasury. While these developments are certainly good news for the Obama administration, the public, and even the bank themselves, these institutions are not yet totally out of government oversight. As condition to receiving the bailout fund, the banks agreed to “warrants” or stock options that give the government a share in profits once stock values rise.

In addition, the public won’t benefit as much as initially believed. This is because five of the repaying banks have little to do with consumer lending. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are mainly investment institutions while State Street, Northern Trust, and Bank of New York Mellon are asset management firms. With the exception of JPMorgan, none of these banks are big-time consumer lenders. The biggest lenders – Bank of America, Citigroup Inc., and Wells Fargo – don’t look like they’ll be in the position of repaying the government anytime soon.

Whatever the case, the repayment plan is certainly a welcome development in today’s grim economic times. Within several days, majority of the financial institutions mentioned above will wire the repayment to the Treasury Department.

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