Three more banks have taken steps towards exiting the government's bailout program.
New York-based Flushing Financial Corp. said this week it had initiated an $80 million public stock offering. It said it intended to use the proceeds to repurchase the $70 million worth of preferred stock it issued to the Treasury Department in return for assistance under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
If approved to withdraw from the program, Flushing Financial will also have to pay accrued dividends.
Los Angeles-based Manhattan Bancorp also made for the exits this week. It paid $1.7 million to redeem the shares it sold the government, as well as $7,319 in dividends. The bank said it would also ask Treasury for permission to redeem stock warrants currently held by the government, a more complicated process.
Finally, James M. Wells III, the chief executive of SunTrust Banks Inc., said this week that he hopes to pay off the $4.9 billion it received under the bailout package "as soon as were are permitted to do so."
In order to withdraw, SunTrust will have to prove to federal regulators that its books are stable and that it can raise capital without government assistance. The bank already completed a stock offering earlier this year, so it is unlikely it will be able to use that route to exit the TARP program.
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