US claims profit on bank bailout plan

The United States said Wednesday its bank bailouts had earned a profit, 30 months after the Treasury committed hundreds of billions of dollars to rescue financial institutions as the economy plunged into crisis. After enduring deep criticism over the use of taxpayer funds to rescue banks run aground by billionaire executives, the Treasury said bank repayments to the Troubled Asset Relief Program had brought in $251 billion, compared to outlays of $245 billion.
"While our overriding objective with TARP was to break the back of the financial crisis and save American jobs, the fact that our investment in banks has also delivered a significant profit for taxpayers is a welcome development," said Treeasury Secretary Tim Geithner. "Today is an important milestone in our efforts to recover taxpayer dollars as we continue winding down TARP," he said in a statement.
The announcement came after three banks repaid $7.38 billion in funds supplied by the programme at the height of the crisis, together with $25.9 million in dividends. Geithner predicted another $20 billion in profits from the bank support programmes.