Lending by TARP Assisted Banks Fell $42 bln in March

The Treasury Department said on Monday average lending from about 500 banks that have received federal aid dropped by $42 billion in March compared to February.

From Reuters: In the first monthly lending report from its Capital Purchase Program, the Treasury said average loans outstanding from CPP recipient banks fell to $5.237 billion in March from $5.279 billion in February.
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The lending report includes all banks receiving government capital investments and will be published alongside a monthly lending “snapshot” of the top 21 banks in the CPP.

Lending at these top 21 banks fell $38.8 billion or 0.9 percent from February to March, according to the report. Excluding the top 21, lending fell $3.1 billion, or 0.4 percent.

For all CPP participants, total average consumer loans outstanding fell 0.5 percent in March to $2.884 trillion, while commercial loans fell 1.2 percent to $2.353 trillion.

The new report is the first glimpse of lending activity among all financial institutions that have received funds under TARP. Treasury is quickly running out of TARP funds. Less than $80 billion of the $700 billion program remains unallocated.

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