In The News: BofA Following Goldman’s/JP Morgan’s Footsteps – No, Seriously
By now, most of you should know that Goldman Sachs is leading the TARP payback charge. Anxious to remove the government’s sticky fingers and crotchety tone from their bank haven, Goldman has made it clear that they are planning to pay the TARP money back ASAP – and in their case, ASAP is not code for sometime between now and 27 years from now, but rather in the next few months if not less. Nipping at their heels, Mr. Dimon has also voiced his plans to pay the TARP funds back in quick manner, and not to be outdone by GS, intends this timeframe to not span longer than a few months. No big surprises so far, I mean it is essentially #1 vs…well…#1, so of course they are eager to get back to crushing the competition and taking advantage of opportunities. And here’s the twist, the shocker, the “holy crap,” if you will…Bank of America is planning the same thing – a FULL TARP funds return – $45 billion!
I was shocked when I read it too, and while it could all just be for show, as it stands right now, BofA is claiming that they will be ready, willing and able to pay the TARP funds back, in their entirety, by year end. While this is not as fast as GS or JPM, come on, it’s BofA for goodness sake – I was expecting those TARP funds to stay out through at least 2012. Time will tell whether there is any validity to the claims, and any truth to the words. As it stands right now, however, it would appear that BofA fully intends to be government free by the end of the year.
