BofA offers to repay part of govt bailout: report

Bank of America (BofA) has proposed to repay part of the US government bailout money, while the US is pressing the bank to pay at least $500 million to defer a tentative agreement that would have the government share its losses on certain assets, says a media report.

"Bank of America Corp is offering to repay part of its bailout money, and the US is pushing for the bank to pay at least $500 million to shelve a tentative pact that would have had the government share its losses on certain assets," The Wall Street Journal said.

According to the move, both relate to an extra measure of federal aid given to help BofA complete its acquisition of Merrill Lynch. Both sets of discussions, if completed, would enable BofA to reduce a layer of federal involvement in its affairs, the report said attributing to people familiar with the matter.

However, the bank is not offering to repay all of its $45 billion in aid from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) as several other banks have done, the report noted.

"Instead, BofA is suggesting it could start with the $20 billion of additional aid supplied in January when the bank was hesitating to complete its takeover of loss-ridden Merrill," it added.

The daily said the repayment of money would mean that BofA would no longer be considered an "exceptional" aid recipient — a designation that has put it under lens by the Congress and regulators, with its pay packages subject to review by the Treasury.

In addition to giving BofA extra TARP money, the government agreed in January to absorb a chunk of losses on a $118-billion pool of assets owned by BofA and Merrill. The bank would be on the hook for the first $10 billion in losses and the US would cover 90 per cent of the remainder.     

In exchange, the report noted that the bank would issue to the Treasury $4 billion in preferred stock carrying an 8 per cent dividend, costing the bank about $320 million a year. BofA also would pay the Federal Reserve $236 dollars.     

The Treasury and the Federal Reserve are asking the bank to pay between $300 million and $500 million to end this plan and are pushing executives to consider a number on the high end of that spectrum, the report said citing a person close to the situation.