Zions Bancorp Repays TARP Bailout

by Christopher Freeburn | September 27, 2012 11:00 am

Zions Bancorp (NASDAQ:ZION[1]) has repaid the federal government for the bailout it received during the financial crisis[2].

According to the Treasury Department, the Salt Lake City-based bank has returned $700 million to the government, completing its repayment of federal funds disbursed under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) in 2008, the Associated Press noted.

In addition to repaying the money owed to the government, Zions Bancorp has also paid the Treasury Department $253 million in dividends.

Bank officials indicated that the repayment would cause a third-quarter $16.6 million charge against preferred stock dividends.

Shares of Zion Bancorp rose about 1% in Thursday morning trading.

Under the TARP program, $245 billion was provided to 707 banks, whose solvency was threatened by the collapse of the real estate market and mortgage loan crisis that began in 2007.

The government says that banks covered by the program have now paid $266 billion in loan repayments, dividends and interest. Repayments from banks are mitigating losses from the $417 billion that was spent on other financial institutions and automakers, including General Motors (NYSE:GM[3]), as part of the TARP program.

Of that portion of TARP, the government has recovered $383 billion so far.

Zions Bancorp is part of InvestorPlace‘s Real America Index[4], a list of companies — one from each state — whose performance provides a window on the health of the U.S. economy. Zions Bancorp represents the state of Utah[5] in the index.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/09/zions-bancorp-repays-tarp-bailout/

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