Ethiopian Review

President Barack Obama has welcomed efforts by some of the largest U.S. banks to repay massive amounts of government aid. But Mr. Obama says the nation’s financial problems are far from over.

Tuesday, 10 banks got permission to repay $68 billion of the emergency aid. The government money went to banks last October to help prop up some troubled institutions and to reassure worried investors.

Officials of some banks say they never needed the help, while others say they are now strong enough to stand on their own.

Bank managers chafed under some of the rules that came along with aid, including limits on how much top bank executives could be paid.

The American Bankers Association says the taxpayers made a profit on the emergency loans to the banks. The ABA also says the vast majority of the nation’s 8,200 banks are well capitalized.

Meanwhile, some top economic experts are calling for the U.S. government to take another look at the financial health of all the country’s biggest banks. The government-appointed panel warns the recession could get worse than the government originally anticipated.

Earlier this year, the U.S. government conducted so-called “stress tests” of 19 banks to see if they could survive if the economy got worse. Officials concluded that half of the banks needed to raise billions of dollars.

- VOA