Banks have repaid more than $70 billion: Obama

US President Barack Obama today said banks which had received billions of dollars in federal aid money last year and early this year as part of administration's effort to bail them out from their eminent collapse, have started repaying back.

So far these banks have repaid $70 billion and the American tax payer's have earned a whopping 17 per cent return on their investment, he said.

"Banks have repaid more than $70 billion, and in those cases where the government's stake has been sold completely, taxpayers have actually earned a 17 per cent return on their investment," Obama said here in his major speech on financial reforms.

He said just a few months ago, many experts from across the ideological spectrum feared that ensuring financial stability would require even more tax dollars.

"Instead, we've been able to eliminate a $250 billion reserve included in our budget because that fear has not been realised," Obama said in his address on Financial Rescue and Reform at the Federal Hall in New York.