Washington - A number of major US banks on Wednesday returned emergency loans that they were given by the government at the height of the financial crisis last October.

Ten major banks were given the go-ahead last week by President Barack Obama's administration to return the funds, totalling about 68 billion dollars.

JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, BB&T Corp and US Bancorp all said they returned the money on Wednesday and the other six were expected to make similar announcements.

They are the first major banks to return government loans. Dozens of smaller community banks and lenders have already handed back nearly 2 billion dollars over the last few months.

That would still leave the government with bail-outs of more than 500 billion dollars on the books, including massive investments in companies such as American International Group, Citigroup, Bank of America and General Motors.(dpa)