Monday, May 11, 2009

Three banks that have received a clean bill of health from the government are announcing plans to raise capital to repay government funds received last fall.

Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp is offering $2.5 billion of its common stock, and McLean, Va.-based Capital One Financial is planning to sell 56 million new common shares — worth about $1.76 billion at Friday's close.

Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BB&T says it will sell $1.5 billion in common stock, and will also cut its dividend by 68 percent to 15 cents to save $725 million annually.

On Thursday, the government announced the results of its stress tests of the 19 largest U.S. banks. US Bancorp, Capital One and BB&T are among the 9 banks deemed to have enough capital to withstand a deeper recession.