NEW YORK, Oct. 19 (UPI) -- Two U.S. banks have noted a turnaround in the toxic assets that were at the heart of the financial meltdown that gained momentum a year ago.
In the third quarter, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase earned billions of dollars from assets that sat dormant on their books as the financial markets began to freeze up a year ago, the Financial Times reported Monday.
Toxic or frozen assets are so named because of the inability of banks to sell them and keep market finances flowing.
The assets resulted in about $1 trillion in bank write-offs a year ago, the Times reported.
The crisis sparked a federal government response of a $700 Troubled Asset Relief Program, originally designed to purchase frozen assets from banks. Most banks held onto these assets, however, unwilling to sell them at a loss.
Citigroup Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach, said the bank realized $2 billion from sales of toxic assets backed by subprime mortgages in the third quarter -- the type of assets that froze early in the financial crisis a year ago.
