Congressional Oversight Panel

America's bailout program, which was intended to help U.S. banks, greatly helped foreign banks as well, a Congressional watchdog group has concluded. The American government flooded the financial markets with money, aiming to help as many banks as possible, while most foreign nations targeted funds to save individual institutions, often those with no major U.S. operations.

If you keep up on banking news, you may have heard the most recent dire report on small banks: If your small bank has taken bailout money from the federal government, that's a good sign your financial institution may be in trouble. That's the latest from the Congressional Oversight Panel, which...

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, an architect of the bailouts given to big banks in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, has reportedly expressed opposition to the appointment of Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Should Geithner have his way, Warren, the...

The U.S. Treasury is hampered by HAMP. A report released today from the Congressional Oversight Panel says the Treasury is still struggling to get the $50 billion Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, off the ground. So far, around 230,000 households have been given permanent...

Between now and 2014, a wave of commercial real estate loan failures threatens to swamp the nation's already weak financial system. The Congressional Oversight Panel warned this week that the potential defaults could push thousands of smaller banks into failure.

The Congressional Oversight Panel's December report on TARP concluded that it "proved decisive enough to stop the panic and restore market confidence," but failed to address many of the "ongoing problems" in the financial markets and the broader economy. However, it didn't call for ending the program.

On the same day the Obama Administration floated a trial balloon to test the waters for extending TARP, the Congressional Oversight Panel heard from experts about TARP's effectiveness. While some of the experts did find aspects of TARP effective, they all testified to significant problems with TARP...

While the Obama administration floated a trial balloon regarding the possible extension of TARP in The Washington Post Thursday, any hope for that balloon could be quickly burst in hearings today before the Congressional Oversight Panel. Members of the House and Senate already are considering the...

While less than two weeks ago, the Congressional Oversight Panel said that it had found no "significant flaws in Treasury's implementation" of TARP bailout programs, on Tuesday, Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky (pictured) questioned why AIG counterparties were paid 100% of the values of...

You may find it hard to believe, but the Congressional Oversight Panel released its monthly report Friday and said that it had found no "significant flaws in Treasury's implementation" of TARP bailout programs. In fact, the panel found that so far, the Treasury Department has collected $17.4...