Small Banks Are Taking TARP Money

The larger banks need to follow in the small banks steps and keep the TARP money and start lending it. 

 

“Smaller TARP recipients have a leg up on big banks that tapped the rescue program. Because small institutions often are closely held, they typically haven’t publicly announced getting TARP. Treasury officials publish a spreadsheet that includes a running list of all TARP recipients.

 

Enterprise Bank has one office, three shareholders and $4 million in fresh capital from the U.S. government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

“That’s not a bailout. That’s being patriotic,” said Chuck Leyh, president and chief executive of the Allison Park, Pa., bank’s parent company, Enterprise Financial Services Group. Enterprise Bank, which has $180 million in assets and turned a first-quarter profit of $85,000, plans to funnel the money it got from the Treasury Department on June 12 into loans to fledgling businesses in western Pennsylvania.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124606040026463617.html