Warranting approval?

The US Treasury has come under fire for allowing banks to repurchase warrants held under its Troubled Asset Relief Program at a discount. Is the criticism justified? And what effect is an auction of JP Morgan's warrants likely to have? Mark Pengelly investigates

Stock warrants do not often draw as much attention as they have in recent months. In fact, when the US government decided to inject capital directly into the country's banks 11 months ago, the warrants issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (Tarp) were hardly a focal point. Under the Tarp, banks that received preferred investments were also required to issue 10-year warrants to the Treasury on their common stock. For each bank, the size of the warrants was contingent on the amount of the