Bank of America to Repay US All $45 Billion in TARP Funds

Published: Wednesday, 2 Dec 2009 | 5:47 PM ET

By: Charlie Gasparino

Bank of America announced that it will repay the entire $45 billion in TARP funds it received during last year's financial crisis.

The Charlotte, North Carolina-based banking giant is expected to sign the documents repaying its Troubled Asset Relief Program funds over the next few days.

The repayment, first reported by CNBC, will be made from "$26.2 billion in excess liquidity and $18.8 billion in proceeds from the sale of common equivalent securities," the bank said in a statement.

The deal was negotiated by BofA's  Strategy Chief Greg Curl at the behest of CEO Ken Lewis, who was forced out by the board and is officially leaving the bank at the end of this year. Curl is among the internal candidates being considered to replace Lewis, and this move could help Curl's prospects.

The bank has struggled in its ongoing CEO search, in part because of the $45 billion in government aid. The US pay czar has curbed the pay for top executives and introduced other restrictions for companies that take TARP money.

Lewis has repeatedly said his goal was to repay the funds before he left the company.

·                            BofA becomes the latest bank to repay money to the TARP, which was set up last year to prevent the collapse of major financial institutions.

In June, the Treasury gave permission to 10 banks to repay $68 billion in TARP funds. They included JP Morgan Chase, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. The other banks were US Bancorp, BB&T, American Express, Capital One Financial, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and Northern Trust.

—Reuters contributed to this report.

© 2009 CNBC.com