Treasury completes another wave of bank investments

The Treasury Department said Tuesday it completed investments in 42 banks, including the first in Nebraska and Arizona to get direct government aid.

The list included 25 financial institutions that had not yet appeared on BailoutSleuth's running tally of companies getting taxpayer capital through the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The Treasury Department said the latest round of investments totaled $1.5 billion, bringing the combined dollar amount of its completed stock deals with U.S. banks to $195.3 billion. That excludes additional investments of $20 billion each in Citigroup Inc., and Bank of America Corp.

W.T.B. Financial Corp., of Spokane, Wash., got $110 million in taxpayer capital last week, according to the government's latest summary of stock purchases. W.T. B. Financial is the privately held parent company of Washington Trust Bank.

Firstbank Corp., of Alma, Mich., sold $33 million in preferred stock to the Treasury Department. The publicly traded company was profitable through the first nine months of 2008, although its earnings were down more than 50 percent.

First United Corp., of Oakland, Md., got $30 million in public money. It reported a $9.1 million profit for the first nine months of 2008, up 3.4 percent from the same period of 2007.

Rogers Bancshares Inc., of Jonesboro, Ark., got $25 million from the Treasury Department. Parke Bancorp Inc., of Sewell, N.J., got $16.3 million, and Adbanc Inc., of Ogallala, Neb., got $12.7 million.

Adbanc was one of two Nebraska banks that received TARP funds. The other was Country Bank Shares Inc., of Milford, which operates Farmers & Merchants Bank. It got $7.52 million.

Goldwater Bank, of Scottsdale, Ariz., sold $2.57 million in stock to the government, making it the first bank in that state to be approved for the Treasury Department program.

To see the other banks that were added to the TARP list, follow the link to the rest of the story.