JPMorgan Chase Pays Back $25 Billion In TARP Funds

NEW YORK (AP) — JPMorgan Chase & Co. on Wednesday joined a handful of other banks in repaying government bailout funds it received last fall.

The New York-based bank repaid in full $25 billion in loans it received as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. JPMorgan has already paid the government $795.1 million in dividends on the preferred stock investment, which carried a 5 percent annual dividend rate.

JPMorgan also plans to notify the Treasury Department of its intent to repurchase the 10-year warrants issued to the government as part of its investment in the bank. The warrants granted the government the right to buy shares at a fixed price over the next 10 years. Banks repaying TARP now have the right to purchase the warrants the Treasury holds at fair market value.

Last fall, the government poured $125 billion into nine major banks, including JPMorgan, in the form of preferred stock purchases in the hopes of increasing lending to businesses and consumers after the credit markets froze up. The government then made another $125 billion available to a number of other, smaller banks.