Major U.S. banks were allowed to repay the Treasury for the first time last week, escaping the clutches of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). While it will be some time before taxpayers see a return on their entire $700 billion investment, the 10 financial firms that were approved to exit TAR...

It’s well known that the bank stress tests were as much a measure to build confidence as to shore up ailing banking practices, so it wasn’t a surprise when 9 of the 19 banks that underwent the stress test passed with flying colors.  The other 10 banks were asked to raise additional capital in t...