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Spain banks restructuring gets green light in Brussels Spain banks restructuring gets green light in Brussels
(35 minutes later)
The European Commission has approved the Spanish government's plans to restructure four troubled banks.The European Commission has approved the Spanish government's plans to restructure four troubled banks.
Bankia, Banco de Valencia, NCG and Catalunya Banc were nationalised after experiencing heavy losses on loans to homebuyers and property developers.Bankia, Banco de Valencia, NCG and Catalunya Banc were nationalised after experiencing heavy losses on loans to homebuyers and property developers.
Banco de Valencia is to be sold to Caixa Bank, a privately owned lender. Banco de Valencia is to be sold to Caixa Bank, a privately-owned lender.
The other three must cut the total size of their loans and investments by more than 60% over the next five years under their restructuring plans. The other three must cut the total size of their loans and investments by more than 60% over the next five years, and shed thousands of staff.
Bankia, the largest of the four, announced that it would lay off 6,000 employees - 28% of its workforce - and shut 39% of its branches.
"Our objective is to restore the viability of banks receiving aid so that they are able to function without public support in the future," the European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said."Our objective is to restore the viability of banks receiving aid so that they are able to function without public support in the future," the European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said.
Trading in shares of Bankia and Banco de Valencia were suspended for the day on the Madrid stock exchange, to give investors time to digest the details of the announcements.
Shrinking banksShrinking banks
The Commission's approval opens the way for Spain's government to draw on a 100bn-euro (£81bn; $129bn) loan made available by the eurozone's bailout fund specifically for the purpose of cleaning up the country's banks. The Commission's approval opens the way for Spain's government to draw 40bn euros from a 100bn-euro (£81bn; $129bn) loan facility made available by the eurozone's bailout fund specifically for the purpose of cleaning up the country's banks.
Shrinking the size of the three banks remaining in state ownership will allow them to repay the rescue loans they have received from the European Central Bank, via the Spanish central bank.Shrinking the size of the three banks remaining in state ownership will allow them to repay the rescue loans they have received from the European Central Bank, via the Spanish central bank.
They will do this in part by selling their most problematic loans to Sareb - the Spanish government's "bad bank", which will be responsible for seeking to recover as much of their value as possible in order to mitigate the cost to taxpayers of rescuing the banks.They will do this in part by selling their most problematic loans to Sareb - the Spanish government's "bad bank", which will be responsible for seeking to recover as much of their value as possible in order to mitigate the cost to taxpayers of rescuing the banks.
Bankia - which lost 3bn euros last year - said it would shrink itself by some 50bn euros by selling assets to Sareb, and also by cutting back on lending and by selling off investments in Spanish industry.
The banks will no longer be allowed to lend to property developers, and must refocus their business on loans to Spanish households and to small and medium-sized businesses.The banks will no longer be allowed to lend to property developers, and must refocus their business on loans to Spanish households and to small and medium-sized businesses.
During the restructuring period, the banks will be banned from making interest payments to certain investors or from acquiring other companies, and employee pay at the banks will be capped. During the restructuring period, the banks will be banned from acquiring other companies, and employee pay at the banks will be capped.
The three banks remaining in government ownership are meant to be sold off by Madrid before the end of the five-year period.The three banks remaining in government ownership are meant to be sold off by Madrid before the end of the five-year period.
href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1277_en.htm?locale=en" >According to the European Commission, some 10bn euros of the restructuring cost must be borne by investors in the banks - which is expected to include the requirement that some lenders to the banks accept a reduction in the amount owed to them. Ordinary investors
The allocation of losses to these investors is controversial in Spain, as they include many ordinary Spaniards who were sold "subordinated" or higher-risk debts of their banks as a savings product. href="http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-12-1277_en.htm?locale=en" >According to the European Commission, some 10bn euros of the restructuring cost must be borne by investors in the banks.
Banco de Valencia was in the worst shape of the four, meaning that a sale to another bank was the only way of recovering any value from the business. These investors are controversially expected to include subordinated lenders to the banks, which includes many ordinary Spaniards, particularly older investors, to whom their banks sold preferred shares - one such form of these higher-risk debts - as a savings product.
Bankia, the biggest of the four banks, was created in 2010 from the merger of seven troubled regional savings banks. They are set to lose between 10% and 50% of the value of their investments, according to an anonymous source cited by the news agency Reuters.
The plans had also been approved by the Spanish central bank on Tuesday. The banks have been banned from making interest payments to these investors until the amount of their losses has been finalised.
Many of Spain's other banks have also been hit by heavy losses on loans they made during last decade's property bubble.
Last week, the Spanish central bank revealed that total losses at Spanish lenders had reached an all-time high of 182bn euros in September, equivalent to 17.4% of Spain's annual economic output.
Falling retail sales
In June, the International Monetary Fund reported on the Spanish banking sector, noting that dozens of troubled banks had been bought up by supposedly stronger rivals since the financial crisis began in 2008, reducing the total number of banks from 45 to 11.
Bankia, the biggest of the four banks, was created in 2010 from the government-sponsored merger of seven troubled regional savings banks - a merger that did not stop Bankia itself from needing to be rescued earlier this year.
The consolidation continues with the sale to Caixa Bank of Banco de Valencia, which was deemed to be the worst shape of the four banks and therefore incapable of surviving on its own.
Almost all of Spain's banks have cut back their lending, as they try to restore their health, with the result that the entire Spanish economy is suffering from a credit crunch, alongside a property collapse and government austerity measures.
The economy has been back in recession for the past year.
Earlier on Wednesday, official data revealed that retail sales in the country fell by 9.7% in October from a year earlier.
The steep fall was actually better than markets had expected, and an improvement on the 11% year-on-year fall in September - the worst drop since records began.
The fall in sales is due in large part to a three-percentage-point increase in VAT at the end of the summer.