Treasury Invests $15B in Seven Banks

Treasury on Monday said it officially invested $15 billion of the $700 billion government bailout fund in seven banks.

On New Year's Eve, Treasury invested $7.6 billion in PNC Financial Services Group (PNC Quote), $3.4 billion in Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB Quote), $2.3 billion in CIT Group (CIT Quote), $1.4 billion in SunTrust Banks (STI Quote) and smaller amounts in Norfolk, Va.-based Hampton Roads Bancshares (HMPR Quote), West Des Moines, Iowa-based West Bancorp and Clayton, Mo.-based First Banks.

Most of the investments, made through the Troubled Assets Relief Program, were made public previously. To date, Treasury said it has invested $177.5 billion of the $250 billion Capital Purchase Program in return for preferred equity stakes in banks. The investments range in size from as big as $25 billion, for companies like JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote) and Bank of America (BAC Quote) to as small as $1.5 million....