Obama administration steps up monitoring of banks that miss TARP payments

By Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Obama administration has begun monitoring the high-level board meetings of nearly 20 banks that received emergency taxpayer assistance but repeatedly failed to pay the required dividends, according to Treasury Department officials and documents. And it may soon install new directors on some of their boards.

The moves come as the number of banks that failed to make at least one dividend payment to the government rose to 132 in the last quarter. These "deadbeats," as they are sometimes called, are virtually all community lenders and collectively received billions of dollars in taxpayer assistance.

In addition to those firms, seven others have failed, resulting in the total loss of the government's investment.

The number of banks that have missed six or more dividend payments has reached 19, up from seven during the previous quarter. Under the government's agreement with those firms, the Treasury now has the right to monitor their boards and appoint new members.

(More here.)