Lending freeze a stumbling block to Citigroup payback
Citigroup is the last big Wall Street bank to exit the government’s bailout programme, and is now trying to persuade US regulators that it can stand on its own. But the administration of President Barack Obama is concerned that banks in general are still not lending fast enough to small business and homeowners, so negotiations with Citibank could still collapse. The big US banks were bailed out using taxpayer money after last year’s economic meltdown, giving government a lot of leverage over their current affairs. The banks don’t like it and want to award themselves huge bonuses again this year, which is not what Obama has in mind. Read more: The New York Times
