Report Rips TARP Strategy (or Lack Thereof)

(NEWSER) - The Treasury may have to expand its toxic asset programs and repeat stress tests, particularly for smaller banks, a US bailout watchdog panel finds. While larger banks have begun to recover, smaller financial institutions remain exposed to billions in losses from outstanding commercial property loans and are still unable to raise capital, the report concludes. More»

Frank, others pull strings for bailout funds

(NEWSER) - Only healthy banks are supposed to get TARP funds, and OneUnited Bank in Boston is not a healthy bank. So why did it wind up pocketing a $12 million infusion from the Treasury? Because powerful Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank interceded for it, the Wall Street Journal reports. Bankers, regulators, and politicians are complaining that bailout funds are being doled out based more on political influence than any other criteria. More»

Paulson, Bair show support creating federally sponsored institution

(NEWSER) - Support is growing for the latest proposed use of bailout funds: a federally sponsored “bad bank” to purchase toxic assets from troubled financial institutions, Bloomberg reports. “A lot of work has been done on an aggregator bank,” Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said today; FDIC chief Sheila Bair recently said the idea has “merit.” More»

35-year-old to keep seat warm until Jan.

(NEWSER) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will name former Goldman Sachs banker Neel Kashkari to oversee the $700 billion bailout fund approved last week, reports the Wall Street Journal. The appointment is an interim one for Kashkari, 35, currently an assistant Treasury secretary; a new administration would almost certainly appoint its own official to the post in January. More»

Congress wants oversight of treasury, homeowner assistance

(NEWSER) - As Hank Paulson did the Sunday talk shows, Democrats in the House and Senate set down their own terms for a plan to rescue the nation's financial institutions—one that would give Congress greater oversight over the treasury. Barney Frank, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, put forward his party's changes to the Bush plan, which also include an assistance program for homeowners and a limit on executive compensation. More»