Sector Snap: Banks Await Gov't OK To Repay TARP

NEW YORK (AP) — Financial stocks mostly rose Monday as investors anxiously await details on which banks will be allowed to repay federal bailout funds.

The government is expected to announce this week the first round of banks approved to return federal money received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Several banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express Co., BB&T Corp., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp. and Bank of New York Mellon Corp., have been raising capital in an effort to prove their ability to stand on their own without government support.

Raising funds in the capital markets is one of the criteria the government has imposed on banks wanting to return the funds doled out last fall at the height of the credit crisis.

Banks that received funds under the government's $700 billion financial rescue program want to break free of many of the constraints that are conditions of the loans — most notably executive pay restrictions.

The market is likely to see those banks approved to return the funds as being in a position of strength as compared with their peers, many of which have been required by the government to raise more capital as a buffer against future losses.