Regions Financial Corporation has repaid 3.5 billion U.S. dollars it received under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Treasury Department said on Wednesday.

With the payment, the overall return from bank programs of TARP, a controversial financial rescue program launched in the depth of financial crisis, has reached 18 billion dollars, the Treasury said in a statement.

The Treasury invested a total of 245 billion dollars through TARP's bank programs and has recovered so far 263 billion in the form of repayments, dividends, interest, and other income.

"This repayment is another milestone in our efforts to wind down TARP and provides an additional profit for taxpayers on the program's investment in banks," said Tim Massad, the Treasury's assistant secretary for financial stability.

The Treasury said it still holds warrants to purchase common stock in Regional Financial and will earn an additional return to taxpayers.

So far, U.S. taxpayers have recovered 81 percent, or 337 billion dollars, of the total funds disbursed across all TARP programs, the statement noted.