Bailouts, Bank Bailout | featured news

Banks are finally beginning to lend, the big ones that is. Commercial and industrial lending is up this quarter 0.2% from the third quarter, according to Moody's Analytics. That might not sound like much, but it's the first quarterly increase in two years. This is great, right? After all, if banks are lending more to businesses, they can expand and begin to hire. That's true, but this trend reveals something else: the financial crisis has created an environment where big banks are getting bigger, as the small ones struggle.

The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards.

U.S. rescues prevented the failure of about 1,000 consumer credit unions, a regulator said Thursday, as the government stabilized three wholesale credit unions crucial to the retail system.

Troubled insurer AIG is to repay a $21bn bail-out loan, paving the way for a share sale by the US Treasury.

The Treasury Department will begin selling off the remaining 2.4 billion shares of Citigroup common stock the government holds as a result of aid provided to the bank during the financial crisis.

The U.S. Troubled Asset Relief Program, which risked $700 billion of government funds to bail out troubled banks and automakers, will cost taxpayers a mere $25 billion, according to an estimate released on Monday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The ultimate size will depend on whether Dublin merely tries to shore up and restructure its crippled banks, or whether a larger package is offered to give it more breathing room.

The mortgage-finance company warned that foreclosure delays could lead to higher costs, as it asked the Treasury to provide a $2.5 billion infusion.

The total cost to rescue and then overhaul mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could reach $685 billion, according to estimates by Standard & Poor's.

Freddie Mac posts $4.1 billion loss for third quarter, seeks additional $100 million in aid.