Dividend payments received for all TARP participants are about $4.5 billion to date, according to Treasury.

The amounts the banks could repay are:

— JPMorgan: $25 billion

— Morgan Stanley: $10 billion

— Goldman Sachs: $10 billion

— U.S. Bancorp: $6.6 billion

— Capital One: $3.6 billion

— American Express: $3.4 billion

— BB&T: $3.1 billion

— Bank of New York Mellon: $3 billion

— Northern Trust: $1.6 billion

— State Street: $2 billion

Bank of America getting into the luxury hotel business

Image by James Willamor via Flickr

As Bank of America (BAC) prepares to start repaying TARP dollars, it’s also gearing up to open a new hotel across the street from its corporate headquarters. And it’s not a Holiday Inn.

Five months from now, the nation’s largest bank is scheduled to open a new, eco-friendly Ritz-Carlton in a sleek 18-story building. It will have bi-level, penthouse “wellness center” - in other words, a spa - and enough meeting space to accommodate 480 dinner guests, the hotel press release says.

Bank of America started planning the Ritz-Carlton about four years ago, said Scott Silvestri, a spokesman for Bank of America. Back then, the economy looked healthy enough to support luxury hotels in places that never had them, and companies weren’t afraid of being associated with five-star lodging.

But when the luxury hotel opens in October, it will greet guests in a vastly different environment. Silvestri says that Bank of America did not use TARP money to finance the hotel, still the bank does owe taxpayers $45 billion in TARP money. Had that not been the case perhaps the hotel - instead of the owner - would make the headlines.

“I would think there would be a lot of questions about that connection, unless they’re planning on giving TARP money back real quick,” said Paul Hebert, a consultant who’s written about how public perceptions have changed corporate travel and rewards decisions.

“It’s again about the whole idea of excess and not spending money wisely,” Hebert said. “Somebody in those mahogany coated rooms should have said, ‘Come on guys’.”

The hotel opening also comes as Bank of America scraps other business with Ritz-Carlton hotels. Just last month, for instance, the company dropped its 38-year-old, annual investment conference in San Francisco, according to the San Francisco Business Times. The event was traditionally held at the Ritz-Carlton.

In the hotel world and in Charlotte, however, the 147-room Ritz-Carlton is a notable one.

It will be Charlotte’s first luxury hotel.

It will also be Charlotte’s - and the Ritz-Carlton chain’s - greenest hotel.

The Ritz-Carlton was built to comply with strict environmental standards set by the Green Building Council, including water and energy efficiency, sustainability and indoor air quality goals. The hotel will be so green that the custom-designed employee uniforms consist of fabric made from regenerated plastic bottles.

The officially named Ritz-Carlton, Charlotte at Bank of America Center will begin accepting reservations this summer.

Bank of America getting into the luxury hotel business - Hotel Check-in: A road warrior’s guide to the lodging landscape - USATODAY.com

BofA extends $600B in credit in 2008

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Bank of America Corp. Chief Executive Kenneth Lewis says the Charlotte-based bank extended $600 billion in credit last year.

“We’re out there in the marketplace making every good loan we can, growing our relationships with existing customers and creating new ones,” Lewis says in a letter to shareholders in the company’s annual report. BofA declines to disclose how much credit it extended in 2007.

Lewis says lending volume is not what it was “at the height of the boom.” “And it shouldn’t be,” he adds. “We’re in a recession, which means that demand for credit is lower, and credit standards are tighter.” The bank has received a total of $45 billion in federal funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which is designed to thaw the credit markets.

Some $20 billion of that total came as part of BofA’s acquisition of troubled brokerage Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. Regarding the Jan. 1 purchase, Lewis says in the letter that Merrill is a “tremendous long-term strategic fit for our company, notwithstanding the large losses they reported in the fourth quarter largely due to sharp writedowns in various capital markets instruments.”

BofA (NYSE:BAC) paid $29.1 billion for Merrill, including $8.6 billion in preferred stock. Merrill lost $15.3 billion in the fourth quarter. State and federal regulators have launched a probe into the deal, seeking information regarding $3.6 billion in bonuses paid to Merrill executives late last year.

On Wednesday, a New York state judge ruled that BofA must provide the names of those employees, which it had declined to do. That bank had said public disclosure might hurt its ability to retain talent.

According to Lewis’ letter to shareholders, BofA extended $932 billion in loans and leases in 2008, the year it bought Countrywide Financial Corp. That’s up from $876 billion in 2007. Total deposits rose to $883 billion last year from $805.2 billion in 2007.

This story originally appeared on the Charlotte Business Journal’s Web site.

BofA extends $600B in credit in 2008

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Bank of America makes $402 mln TARP dividend payment

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Bank of America Corp.(BAC 4.90, -0.67, -12.0%) on Tuesday made its first dividend payment of $402 million to the U.S. government under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the financial firm said. The payment represents the dividend on the Fixed-Rate Cumulative Perpetual Preferred Stock issued in connection with the $45 billion in government investments that Bank of America received in late 2008 and early 2009. Bank of America is expected to pay about $2.8 billion in cash dividends to the government in 2009.

Bank of America makes $402 mln TARP dividend payment - MarketWatch

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