Dick Kovacevich made headlines when he called the government stress tests "asinine." He heaped a lot of invective on TARP and boasted that if it weren't for the TARP, "we would have been able to raise private capital at that time, and with that private capital, given what is going on today, it is very unlikely that we would have had to reduce the dividend." 

But if Citigroup (C) doesn't truly standalone as the only mega-bank left on the TARP dole, it's because Wells Fargo (WFC) is keeping it company. The bank has lowered the anti-TARP rhetoric, which is wise when you haven't paid back a cent, and says it wants to pay off its government borrowing in a way that's shareholder friendly, meaning no dilution. 

So it will likely be a while before it follows Bank of America (BAC). This is wise. The bank isn't in the midst of a really tough CEO search, so the imperative is not nearly as strong. The bank's earnings are strong, but so are the risks from its California-heavy consumer loan portfolio and its relatively thin capital cushion. So it pays to be conservative. Doing so in the name of shareholders makes sense.  

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