Ten of the largest US banks have been approved to repay US$68 billion of government bailout money, the Treasury Department said on Tuesday.

"Following consultation with the primary banking supervisor of each institution, Treasury has notified the institutions that they are now eligible to complete the repayment process," the Treasury said in a statement.

"If these firms choose to do so, Treasury will receive US$68 billion in repayment proceeds," it added.

The Treasury did not name the banks, but US media believed that Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JP Morgan Chase & Co., and American Express Co might be among them. All the banks passed government "stress tests" last month.

Another bank, Morgan Stanley, which did not pass the government test but said it had raised enough capital quickly, might also have been approved to repay the money.

"These repayments are an encouraging sign of financial repair, but we still have work to do," Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said in a statement.

The Obama administration hopes that money paid back into the US$700-billion bailout fund by healthy banks will show that its financial recovery programs are working. And the money can also be reused to help smaller troubled banks and companies without Treasury officials returning to Congress for more money.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)