Citi using most of TARP capital to make loans: report

A pedestrian passes a logo of Citigroup in Tokyo in this April 20, 2009 file photo.

(Reuters) - Citigroup Inc, the bank bailed out with $45 billion of U.S. taxpayers' money, is using almost all of that money to make new loans, the Associated Press said citing a report scheduled for release on Tuesday morning.

A committee at the third-largest U.S. bank, which is overseeing the use of the money it received from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), approved $44.75 billion in lending initiatives as of March 31, according to the AP story, which appeared on the New York Times website.

The loans that Citigroup makes to state and local governments, municipal agencies, universities and non-profit hospitals, were helped by TARP money, AP said.

Citigroup said it is spending an additional $2 billion to finance suppliers, $1 billion in residential mortgages, and $250 million more in auto loans, AP said.

A Citigroup spokesman in Hong Kong was not immediately available for comment.

Citigroup got a $45 billion injection from TARP and the U.S. government agreed to share losses on $300.8 billion of troubled assets. The government is keeping a close eye on the bank after more than $85 billion of writedowns and credit losses since the middle of 2007.

(Reporting by Anurag Kotoky in Bangalore; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)