Jonathan Weld, of counsel in the Asset Management Group and based in New York, was quoted in an April 8 Reuters story titled “Regulators May Not Want TARP Money Back Soon.” The story looked at the changing attitudes around the $700 billion TARP bailout, suggesting that banks have begun to resist TARP money in order to avoid any stigma that may go along with it. In particular, some banks have expressed concern that holding on to TARP money could suggest that they are too weak to do without it. “That's a bad label,” Weld said. He added that last fall, at the start of TARP, some banks were pressured by the Federal government to accept TARP funds. “They [government officials] wanted to be absolutely sure that everybody took the money so they weren't isolating somebody.” The mood seems to be changing, he added, and today the government would see having some money repaid as a sign of the success of the program. Said Weld, “Hopefully the climate now is a lot less threatening than when TARP was put together last fall.”