Citi chair says no timetable for repaying its $45bn Tarp loans

CITIGROUP fully hopes to pay back the $45bn (£28bn) it borrowed from the US Treasury’s banking bailout program, but there is no timetable, the bank’s chairman said yesterday.
 

Richard Parsons said the fact that Citi has been unable to repay its loans puts it at a disadvantage in terms of attracting and retaining key talent.
 

Last week, 10 major banks, including Goldman Sachs Group, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase, said they would be allowed to begin repaying loans from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp).
 

“I do worry we could be competitively disadvantaged if we aren’t able to find a way to quickly repay Tarp,” said Parsons, who added that he opposes caps on compensation.
 

He said the firm had a plan to repay its Tarp loan but did not give specifics.