Citizens First (CZFC) in Bowling Green, Ky., is nearly two-thirds of the way to exiting the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
It has paid $3.3 million to redeem half of its remaining Tarp shares held by the Treasury Department. Citizens First received $8.8 million through the Tarp in December 2008. It paid $2.2 million in February 2011.
The latest payment, funded by a bank loan, will save Citizens First $165,000 in annual dividend payments to the Treasury.
"Based on the two partial repayments, we anticipate exiting the Tarp Capital Purchase Program by the end of 2013," Todd Kanipe, Citizens First's president and chief executive, said in a news release Wednesday.
Citizens First
The company's banking unit, Citizens First Bank, has $394 million in total assets and ten branches, all in Kentucky.