E*Trade confident of $800 mln in government aid
* Regulator reviewing application
* To make announcement later this month
* Shares get boost, still down on the day
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Online brokerage E*Trade Financial Corp (ETFC.O), under pressure from price and ratings downgrades, said on Friday it was optimistic that it would receive $800 million in funding from the government's TARP Capital Purchase Program.
The company said the U.S. Office of Thrift Supervision is reviewing its application.
"We remain optimistic that we will receive approval and expect to make an announcement this month," Chief Executive Donald Layton said in a brief statement.
In its quarterly conference call last month, E*Trade said it was "very interested" in the U.S. Treasury's $250-billion TARP lending program, which is intended to shore up financial services companies hit by the credit crunch.
E*Trade has been stung by bad bets it made on mortgage-related securities and has reported a series of quarterly losses due to high loan-loss provisions.
In the last few weeks, Citigroup twice cut its price target on shares of the discount brokerage, most recently to $1.70, in anticipation of more home equity portfolio losses.
Earlier this week, Moody's Investors Services lowered E*Trade's long-term senior debt rating to B2 from Ba3 for the same reasons.
E*Trade shares -- down about 80 percent over the last 12 months -- recovered from early lows after the statement but were still down 3.2 percent at $1.81 on the day.
(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)
