Geithner: System health linked to bank paybacks-WSJ

WASHINGTON, April 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he would consider the health of the financial system and the flow of credit in deciding whether banks can repay bailout funds from the government, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.

In an interview published on its website, the newspaper said Geithner indicated the health of individual banks would not be the sole criterion for returning government funds.

"We want to make sure that the financial system is not just stable, but also not inducing a deeper contraction in economic activity. We want to have enough capital that it's going to be able to support recovery," Geithner told the Journal. (Reporting by David Lawder, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)