SunTrust Banks spent less than $5,000 in fourth quarter lobbying federal government

SunTrust spent minimal amount lobbying gov’t in 4Q

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Regional bank SunTrust Banks Inc. spent less than $5,000 in the fourth quarter to lobby on banking and financial issues, according to a recent disclosure report.

That’s about even with what the bank spent on lobbying in the 2009 third quarter.

The Atlanta-based bank has been under the government’s watchful eye ever since it has received $4.85 billion from the $700 billion bank rescue program during the credit crisis in 2008.

In the October-December period, the company only lobbied Congress, according to the report filed Jan. 20 with the House clerk’s office.

The Obama administration has proposed a series of measures to tighten the reins on financial institutions in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the crisis that struck both Wall Street and Washington in the fall of 2008.