NEWS IN BRIEF

— Regions pays back

$3.5 billion to U.S.

Regions Financial Corp. has repaid $3.5 billion it received during the 2008 financial crisis, the largest outstanding bailout owed by a bank, the federal government said Wednesday.

Birmingham, Ala.-based Regions Financial also had previously paid $593 million in dividends. The Treasury Department said it could sell its warrants to buy Regions’ stock to recover additional money.

Regions is the secondlargest bank operating in Arkansas with more than $4.2 billion in deposits and 100 branches.

The Treasury Department says the government has been paid back $337 billion of the $415 billion it lent financial institutions and automakers during the crisis under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The government is still owed roughly $78 billion, mostly from insurance giant American International Group Inc., General Motors Co. and Ally Financial Inc. The outstanding balance doesn’t include the more than $150 billion that taxpayers have lost so far bailing out mortgage giants Fannie Mae, the Federal National Mortgage Association, and Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.

USA Truck execs

see pay jump in ’11

The compensation of top executives at USA Truck Inc. rose in 2011, led by a 38 percent jump for the chief executive.

Total compensation for Cliff Beckham, the Van Buren carrier’s president and chief executive officer, was $355,572. Michael Weindel, chief operations officer, saw a 24 percent increase to $238,611 for 2011, while Darron Ming, chief financial officer, earned $235,151, a 23 percent increase.

The compensation calculation is based on an Associated Press formula that includes salary, bonus, incentives, perks, above-market returns on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock options and awards granted during the year.

USA Truck previously reported a fiscal 2011 net loss of $10.8 million, or $1.05 per share, compared with a net loss of $3.3 million, or 32 cents per share, for 2010.

Arkansas Index slips 2.24, ends at 230.72

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 2.24 to 230.72 on Wednesday.

“U.S. stocks sank lower on Wednesday after a poorly received bond auction in Spain and the realization that further monetary easing by the Federal Reserve is not likely,” said John Blackwell, senior vice president and managing director of equity trading at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock. “The Arkansas Index moved lower as 14 stocks declined and twoadvanced.”

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 04/05/2012

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