Bank of America repays government bailout money

WASHINGTON, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Bank of America Corp. (BofA) said Wednesday it has repaid the entire 45 billion U.S. dollars from the U.S. government's financial bailout program.

BofA, one of the largest U.S. banks funded the repayment through a combination of cash and the sale of 19.29 billion dollars of securities that would convert into common stock. The stock increase remains subject to shareholder approval.

The bank announced its agreement with the U.S. Treasury to repay Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) last week.

Ken Lewis, CEO of the bank said in a statement that the company cleared a key hurdle in demonstrating the economy's broader health, and said the bank looks "forward to continuing to play a key role in the economic recovery."

The repayment made BofA another example that returned government support.

Bank of America was among hundreds of banks that received taxpayer's support through the government's 700-billion-dollar TARP which was launched in October 2008.

The bank received 25 billion dollars as part of the initial round of investments when the credit crisis peaked last fall. In January 2009, it received a second round of 20 billion dollars shortly after it acquired the collapsing Wall Street investment bank Merrill Lynch.

In a letter to Congress leaders on Wednesday, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said that "losses on TARP investment are likely to be significantly lower than previously expected. We now expect a positive return from the government's investment in banks."

Geithner also said that those banks who received taxpayers' support will soon have repaid nearly half of the TARP funds they received.