BB&T Corp Files Application To Repay TARP

BB&T Corp. (BBT) Wednesday said it filed its application to repay the $3.1 billion it had received from the U.S. Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The bank established a capital plan with a $1.5 billion stock offering announced this week, $800 million in debt already raised earlier, and $725 million in savings generated from cutting its dividend.

That plan leaves the bank not only with enough cash to pay back the government, but with a better capital structure all around, said Christopher Henson, BB&T's chief operating officer.

"Our request for approval has been submitted," he said in an interview with Dow Jones Newswires. It is unclear how long it would take for regulators to approve the plan and the application, but with the fresh capital in place and even after repayment, BB&T would end up with a Tier 1 Common capital ratio "north of 8%," Henson said, double the minimum requirements established through the stress test.

-By Matthias Rieker, Dow Jones Newswires; 201-938-5936; [e-mail]