Ally Financial Inc, the former General Motors Acceptance Corp, posted lower quarterly profit as it made less money from auto lending.

Ally said it earned $146 million in the quarter compared with $162 million a year earlier when it was still known as GMAC.

The company, majority-owned by the U.S. government, on March 31 filed a prospectus for an initial public offering, to allow the U.S. Treasury to begin selling its 73.8 percent stake in the company.

Taxpayers injected more than $17 billion into Ally in bailouts in 2008 and 2009 after it lost money on mortgages. The company is known for its heavily-advertised brand name ditech.com.

Ally had more than $172 billion of assets at the end of December, making it the 16th-largest U.S. bank holding company, according to research service SNL Financial.

(Editing by Dave Zimmerman)