Ten of the nation's largest financial institutions were given the green light to repay $68 billion in government bailout money, freeing them from restrictions on executive compensation that they say are making it hard to keep their top-performing executives.

All eight banks that took TARP money and passed government "stress tests" confirmed they received permission to repay the bailout funds. They are: J P Morgan Chase, American Express, Goldman Sachs Group, U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street and BB&T Corp.



Morgan Stanley did not pass the government test, but on Tuesday said it had raised enough capital quickly and was approved to repay its TARP money.

Northern Trust Corp. was not among the 19 banks subjected to stress tests, but the company said it also had received permission to repay the bailout funds.

Now they are out of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Are they trouble-free?