Unrequited funds

10 June 2009 By Jeff Segal

The US bank complained about being forcefed rescue funds and promised to pay them back fast. So the fact that it wasn t among the first 10 to do raised eyebrows. But Uncle Sam s cash may help it scrape by while it sorts out Wachovia s mortgage mess just as it was meant to do.

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San Franciscobased Wells Fargo is not one of the 10 banks that are repaying funds received under the Troubled Asset Relief Programme. The bank said it wasn't doing so because its priority right now is to integrate Wachovia into Wells Fargo as smoothly and efficiently as possible to benefit our 70 million customers."

The banks repaying the funds are JPMorgan, State Street, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BB&T, Capital One, US Bancorp, Bank of New York Mellon, Northern Trust and American Express.

Earlier this year, Wells Fargo chairman Dick Kovacevich called the government's plan for stress testing the country's banks absolutely asinine.

Wells Fargo chief executive John Stumpf said that the US Treasury's Capital Purchase Programme investment is generating a return for the US taxpayer – at a significant cost to the company.

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