Treasury hides some data under TARP

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- The U.S. Treasury Department says it will hold to its practice of confidentiality regarding the names of banks rejected for a government bailout program.

The Treasury's chief risk and compliance offer in the Office of Financial Stability Duane Morse said releasing the names of banks that applied for and did not receive Troubled Asset Relief Program funding would violate "trade secrets and commercial or financial information obtained from a person that is privileged," The Boston Globe reported Wednesday.

Releasing the information would cause the banks "substantial competitive harm," he said.

Critics said the information is vital for monitoring the Treasury's decisions and to evaluating the banks' responses to changes in the program, such as restrictions to executive compensation that were tossed in after the program had begun.

"I don't think anyone understands the rationale for how this has been handled -- who has gotten the money and why. It feels like a Rubik's cube,'' said Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste.

Charles Davis, executive director of the National Freedom of Information Coalition, said the Treasury's secrecy is "completely illogical.''

The Treasury is blocking the information based on a policy "designed to protect proprietary information and formulas, such as the secret formula for Coke," he said.