The government’s Troubled Asset Relief Programme (TARP) has a fighting fund of $700bn, but the US Congress has only released $350bn to date. Of that, $212bn has been pumped into more than 250 ailing US banks, with more cash injections forecast. By far the biggest recipients of capital funding are BoA, which has had $45bn, and Citi, which has had investments of the same amount. BoA needed an additional capital injection to help it digest losses related to its recent acquisition of Merrill Lynch.
The US Treasury also gave Citi $20bn in late December on top of the $25bn it sank into the bank in October. The government has yet to fund all the cash promises it has made, which are estimated at $370bn. These include payments to the beleaguered US car industry.
