Centra Financial Holdings Inc. of Morgantown

WASHINGTON (AP) - A West Virginia bank has become the first to completely cut its ties to the federal government's $700 billion financial rescue program.

The Treasury Department said Friday that Centra Financial Holdings Inc. of Morgantown, W.Va., has given the government $750,000 to buy back warrants Treasury was holding that gave it an ownership share in the company.

That transaction means Centra Financial has now paid the full costs of participating in the financial rescue program. On March 31 the bank returned the $15 million in capital infusions the government had provided.

Centra Financial was among the banks that chose not to participate in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s rescue program guaranteeing hundreds of billions of dollars in U.S. banks' debt, intended to help thaw the freeze in bank-to-bank lending. Under the temporary program, the FDIC provides insurance for loans between banks, guaranteeing the new debt in the event of payment default by the borrowing bank.

A number of big banks that have received federal money under the bailout program have benefited at the same time from the FDIC debt guarantees.

Centra Financial did, however, accept the FDIC's guarantee of deposits in non-interest-bearing "transaction" accounts, often used by businesses for processing their payrolls and other transactions. The FDIC removed, through the end of this year, the normal $250,000 insurance limit on the accounts.

Six other banks have paid back the capital infusions - with Shore Bancshares Inc. of Easton, Md., this week becoming latest to pay back the $25 million it received. But Centra Financial was the first to also pay the government for the warrants, Treasury said.

Including Shore Bancshares, the seven banks have paid back the government $467.3 million. But that's out of the nearly $200 billion that the government has provided under the program to more than 500 banks.

In a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., released Friday, Treasury said it has received $2.5 billion in dividend payments from banks that have received support from the capital purchase program.

Several of the nation's biggest banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Group Inc., have said they want to return the bailout money but have yet to do so.

The government on May 4 is scheduled to release the results of "stress tests" banking regulators are conducting on the 19 largest banks to see whether they have sufficient resources to withstand an even more severe economic downturn.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A West Virginia bank has become the first to completely cut its ties to the federal government's $700 billion financial rescue program.

The Treasury Department said Friday that Centra Financial Holdings Inc. of Morgantown, W.Va., has given the government $750,000 to buy back warrants Treasury was holding that gave it an ownership share in the company.