Ten large banks have returned a total of $68 billion in bailout funds to the government, the Associated Press reported.

The Treasury Department approved their exit applications from the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) last week; Wednesday was the first repayment opportunity.

Among those that left the program are JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., American Express Co., BB&T Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., Northern Trust Corp. and State Street Corp.

The banks had to clear several hurdles to ensure that they would remain viable despite the financial crises, including that they had a capital buffer in case the recession worsened.

Meanwhile, the government had to rush to price the stock of warrants the Treasury Department holds as the final step in allowing banks to cut their ties with the bailout program.

More than $70 billion has been returned to the TARP fund, which could be used in loans to other institutions the government hopes will increase lending to support economic recovery. Those banks that haven’t applied to buy back their Treasury warrants are still subject to limits on executive pay and other restrictions, which they have criticized early on.

Wells Fargo & Co. CEO John Stumpf told the Charlotte Observer yesterday that his company will pay back its TARP money “as soon as practical,” but it has not applied to leave the program yet.

Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit ratings on 18 U.S. banks yesterday, claiming that increased regulation and market volatility will hurt the already weak industry as it undergoes a transformation, Reuters reported.

Wells Fargo was downgraded to “AA-minus” from “AA.” It also cut BB&T to “A” from “A-plus,” Capital One to “BBB” from “BBB-plus,” and U.S. Bancorp to “A-plus” from “AA.”