The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. sent a letter, the Congressional Oversight Panel issued its second report, and Barney Frank introduced a bill: everybody wants accountability from the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
“Given that government funds, capital and guarantees are being used to support banking institutions, banks are expected to document how they are continuing to meet the credit needs of creditworthy borrowers,” the FDIC says in its January 1 institutional letter. “The FDIC expects that state nonmember institutions (or the parent companies) will deploy funding from these federal programs to prudently support credit needs in their market and strength bank capital.”
The overseers—also known as COP—expressed continued frustration. “The Panel still does not know what the banks are doing with the money,” according to the executive summary of its second report. “The Panel’s initial concerns about the TARP have only grown, exacerbated by the shifting explanations of its purposes and the tools used by Treasury.”
Representative Frank (D-MA) has introduced H.R.384, the TARP Reform and Accountability Act, which apparently adds all of the oversight that Congress forgot to include in the first bill. Half of that money has already been spent, of course. Good job, all around.
