NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Regional banking company Iberiabank Corp., which took money from the U.S. Treasury to stimulate loans during the current credit crisis, said Thursday that it is giving the money back to the government.

Late in 2008, Iberiabank sold preferred stock to the government for $90 million through a program called Capital Purchase Program, through which the Treasury directly invested in banks to provide loan capital to stimulate the economy.

But Lafayette-based Iberiabank said that because of strings attached to the program, it was redeeming its preferred stock under a 30-day opt-out provision with the government.

Iberiabank and other banking companies that have avoided major loan problems — such as those that took direct bailout money from the government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program to remain solvent — have had second thoughts about CPP since the $787 billion economic stimulus program put them, as well as their troubled counterparts, under restrictions on executive bonuses.

In a statement issued after financial markets closed Thursday, Iberiabank CEO Daryl Byrd said the company’s board has decided that ‘‘continued participation in this program is no longer in the best interest of our company and its shareholders.’’

Two other major Louisiana banking companies — Lafayette-based MidSouth Bancorp Inc. and New Orleans-based Whitney Holding Corp. — also are reconsidering their participation in CPP. MidSouth sold $20 million of preferred stock to the Treasury, while Whitney — after issuing preferred stock for the first time — sold the shares to the government for $300 million.

MidSouth and Iberiabank have reported no major problems with previously issued loans.

Whitney has reported credit problems with residential and commercial real estate loans, primarily in the Tampa, Fla., area. But Whitney has said its regulatory capital levels remain well above those required for the company to be considered well-capitalized.

Congressional Democrats attached the bonus limitations to banks in the CPP program over objections of the Obama administration, saying they were needed if the president planned to ask for more money to bail out ailing financial institutions.