Even though some financial institutions are ready, willing and able to return the funds received through the Troubled-Asset Relief Program (TARP), the sticking point remains what the government is willing to accept and what the financial institutions are willing to pay for the warrants attached to the preferred stock. While financial institutions have experienced a rebound over the recent couple of months, we note there are still a number of concerns that will continue to overhang the industry for a number of quarters: Unemployment continues to remain extremely high, to within about a half a percent of the 10% level, as such the delinquency rates on prime loan home mortgages has increased. The 1Q09 moratorium on home foreclosures has been lifted and the level of new foreclosures has started to rise again. Consumer loan delinquencies have been on the rise. Commercial loan issues have been on the risk. While ...