Goldman May Return TARP Money Soon

Goldman Sachs (GS 111.93) may return $10 billion in TARP money to the government soon, according to a report from The New York Times.

The Times report indicates that Goldman would like to return the money within the next month, a much quicker timetable than the year-end goal previously stated by CEO Lloyd Blankfein.

The decision comes on the heels of criticism that Goldman was the biggest recipient of government money that AIG (AIG 1.48) paid out to its counterparties.

According to the report in The New York Times, Goldman Sachs has more than $100 billion in available cash.

Goldman may be planning to deploy some of that cash in a bid for Barclays' (BCS 7.30) iShares unit, according to separate reports.  A Financial Times report indicates that Goldman has entered the bidding for iShares.  Other interested parties, according to the report, are private equity group Bain Capital and a consortium led by Hellman & Friedman.  Bids for iShares, could reach as high as $6.5 billion according to some reports.