(Adds further details from GMAC reaction in paragraph five and from Treasury statement in pargraphs seven and eight.)
By Luca Di Leo and Darrell A. Hughes
Of DOW JONES NEWSIRES
WASHINGTON (Dow Jones)
However, the central bank and the U.S. Treasury said that GMAC is expected to meet the capital ratios required by accessing the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, automotive-industry financing program.
Despite extraordinary help from the U.S. government, including $12.5 billion of federal funds and access to cheap debt, GMAC is struggling to return to the black as it takes hit after hit on its mortgage unit, Residential Capital LLC.
GMAC is in talks with the U.S. Treasury to get a third infusion of up to $5.6 billion in TARP funds.
"While we still need additional capital to meet the (stress test) requirement, we have been focused on transforming the company, restoring financial health and maximizing the investment for our shareholders," said a GMAC spokesperson.
The Fed said the other nine bank-holding companies that were found not to meet capital requirements earlier this year had now raised enough capital or improved the quality of capital sufficiently.
"In January of this year, there was very little confidence in the financial system. Financial institutions could not borrow without guarantees provided by the government, and we faced the real prospect of having to use taxpayer resources to recapitalize the banks," said Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
Now, the Treasury said it was borrowing less and taxpayer support for the financial sector had declined because banks were meeting their needs in the private markets and repaying the government.
The Fed said the 10 companies, including GMAC, had boosted their capital by a total $77 billion, mainly by issuing common equity or other eligible securities.
In May, Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Citigroup Inc. (C), Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), GMAC LLC and Morgan Stanley (MS) were told they need to raise capital. Regions Financial Corp. (RF), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB), KeyCorp (KEY), PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC) and SunTrust Banks Inc. (STI) also were told to bolster their reserves.
By contrast, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), American Express Co. (AXP), BB&T Corp. (BBT), State Street Corp. (STT), MetLife Inc. (MET), Bank of New York Mellon Corp. (BK), U.S. Bancorp (USB) and Capital One Financial Corp. (COF) were told they didn't need to raise additional capital.
In its stress tests of 19 large banks earlier this year, Fed economists designed dire economic scenarios and measured the resilience of big banks against those scenarios. Fed officials expect to make those stress tests a model for future supervision.
-By Luca Di Leo, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6682; luca.dileo@dowjones.com