Citigroup Inc. released an outline Tuesday of its plans to spend the $45 billion it has received from the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.
The banking company described its intentions to spend $36.5 billion on mortgages, corporate, consumer and student loans, and credit cards. A special committee set up to review Tarp-related expenditures had to approve the investments in each category. Citi said it would report its uses of the Tarp money quarterly.
Citi said it would buy $10 billion worth of mortgage-backed securities made up of both fixed- and variable-rate loans insured by Fannie Mae and $7.5 billion in prime loans not backed by the government-sponsored enterprise. It is also making $8.5 billion worth of nonconforming loans. Citi is spending $2.5 billion on consumer loans, $1.5 billion on corporate loans, and $1 billion on student loans. It will also spend $5.8 billion on expanding credit card lines for new and current customers, it said.
A committee of six high-level executives approved the proposals, which were submitted during the fourth quarter. The committee's review is the final step in a four-part process Citi said begins with a review of a plan within each business unit. Citi requires all of its businesses to be able to track their Tarp money spending.
Late Monday, Wells Fargo & Co., which received $25 billion in Tarp funds, also detailed its recent lending activities. The San Francisco banking company said it has made $187 billion worth of new consumer and commercial loan commitments and $354 billion worth of new mortgages since mid-2007.
Last quarter, Wells made $22 billion worth of new loan commitments, a 10% increase from the third quarter. It made $50 billion worth of new mortgages. Wells also said it would pay the Treasury a dividend of $371.5 million.
