Ally Financial Sees Full Tarp Repayment by '14 on Auto Lending Strength

Ally Financial, the second-largest remaining investment by the Treasury's bailout fund, will repay the government by 2014 on the strength of its auto-finance business, its chief executive officer said.

Ally can make a significant payment this year toward the $14.6 billion still outstanding from the Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, CEO Michael Carpenter said in a Feb. 9 interview. Ally in 2012 financed the most new- and used-vehicle sales in the U.S. for the second consecutive year.

"We are 100 percent confident that we can repay the American taxpayer completely," Carpenter, 65, said at the National Automobile Dealers Association's convention in Orlando, Florida. "Whether that's this year or next year, I don't know. But it's in that time frame."

Ally is selling assets outside the U.S. to narrow the company's focus to autos and its online retail bank while fending off claims tied to its Residential Capital unit, which went bankrupt because of losses on subprime home mortgages. Ally's auto unit has expanded its used, leasing and subprime financing offerings ahead of expirations this year of agreements that guarantee business from General Motors Co. and Chrysler Group LLC.

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