The Bush Administration insists the banks would repay the amount, $25 billion of which would come from the Treasury, over the next 10 years.

Since the bank could not repay, the Comptroller declared it insolvent.

Under this Act the Treasury issued £300 million of paper banknotes, without the backing of gold, with which the banks could repay their obligations.

The banks have largely repaid the money and the net cost of TARP may eventually be in the range of $30 billion.

Officials said the bank repaid the loans with the funds in the certificates of deposit.

They say that what gets denounced as "greed" will actually help banks repay government bail outs and, therefore, benefit us all.

Most banks repaid TARP funds using capital raised from the issuance of equity securities and debt not guaranteed by the federal government.

Japan's banks are expected to suffer because some of their less financially strong borrowers will be pushed out of business by the earthquake and will not repay their loans.

Last year, Sumitomo Trust and several other banks repaid the billions in yen they borrowed from the government in 1998.

But banks have repaid more than $70 billion, and in those cases where the government's stakes have been sold completely, taxpayers have actually earned a 17 percent return on their investment.