TARP recipient lending eases in February

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Overall lending decreased slightly in February for the largest U.S. financial firms that have received emergency government investments, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

Mortgage lending was up about 35 percent for the average recipient of funds under the Capital Purchase Program but commercial loans were mostly down.

Total lending fell a median 2 percent in February, the Treasury said in a statement.

"Many businesses are unwilling to expand their operations in this climate," the Treasury said in the report that summarized a month's worth of lending at the largest 21 banks receiving emergency aid.

Commercial and industrial lending continued to weaken across all categories, the Treasury said.

"In commercial real estate, renewals of existing accounts increased, while new commitments decreased from January to February," the report states.

Some of the largest credit providers, like Bank of America (BAC.N) and American Express (AXP.N), are among the finance companies that regularly report to Treasury on their lending standards since receiving government aid.

(Reporting by Patrick Rucker; Editing by James Dalgleish)