Following a case brought before Spain’s top court, banks are no longer allowed to charge you a 30 euro penalty when your account goes overdrawn. With most peoples monthly bills being paid by direct debit and companies like Iberdrola never taking the money out of your account on the same day each month it’s easy to go a few euros …
Board members and executives at the bailed-out Spanish banks Bankia and Caja Madrid used undeclared credit cards to accumulate personal expenses totalling €15.5 million over a ten year period.
The European Commission has imposed a 60% size reduction on the nationalised banks (Bankia, Catalunya Caixa, Novagalicia Banco and Banco de Valencia) by 2017 as a condition for the injection of €37 billion from the bailout fund.
An independent audit carried out by consultant Oliver Wyman estimates the Spanish banking sector requires additional capital of 53.745 billion euros to prop up their balance sheets, mainly due to their exposure in the ailing real estate sector. This was announced by the Bank of Spain on Friday.
Eurozone finance ministers have agreed to lend Spain €30 billion euros this month to help its troubled banks, the first instalment of the no strings attached Victory for the Euro package/bailout with more strings than an octopus marionette. A total bailout amount of up to €100 billion euros was agreed in June.
No wonder things never run smoothly, even when they are all reporting on the same situation Human nature, I suppose, topped up with pride.
Three Spanish savings banks – Ibercaja, Liberbank and Caja3 – have approved a merger to strengthen their weak balance sheets. The new merged bank would create the country’s seventh biggest lender, with €120 billion in assets.
The ratings agency Moody’s has cut the credit ratings of sixteen Spanish banks, including two of the largest, Banco Santander and BBVA. Ten of the 16 banks were also put on negative credit watch, meaning that further downgrades are possible.
The credit ratings agency Fitch has warned that eight Spanish banks are ‘on review’ for a possible reduction in their credit ratings, mainly due to the profound adverse effect the eurozone crisis is having on economic and financial stability.
Under new requirements by the European Banking Authority, Spanish banks need to find another €26 billion in capital by next June with Santander having to raise an extra €15 billion.