国际英语新闻：U.S. government provides $33.56 bln to 21 banks

WASHINGTON, Nov. 17 (Xinhua) -- The Bush Administration said on Monday that it has provided 33.56 billion dollars to 21 U.S. banks under its 250 billion dollar purchase plan.

    The government has bought 125 billion dollar stocks in nine major U.S. banks in the first round of payments.

    JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and Wells Forgo, each got 25 billion dollars in government funds, and Bank of America got 15 billion dollars.

    Meanwhile, Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley got 10 billion dollars each, and Bank of New York Mellon and State Street got 3 billion and 2 billion dollars respectively.

    Under the take-it-or-leave-it plan, the U.S. government will use a portion of the 700 billion dollar financial rescue package to inject capital into banks by directly purchasing equity shares.

    The government will initially buy stocks in nine major U.S. banks under its 250 billion dollar purchase plan, another 125 billion will be going to regional institutions.