MADRID | By Francisco López | The Spanish banks performed well in the latest stress tests. All in all, they achieved acceptable results for the third quarter of 2014. The problem, say the experts, could arise in the months ahead: the European Commission has drastically reduced its forecasts for the eurozone’s main economies,and as everybody knows, growth is essential for banking activity.
BRUSSELS | By Alexandre Mato | The outcome of the stress tests led by the ECB and EBA showed that there are important weaknesses in the Italian and Greek financial sectors. 7 out of the 13 institutions that had to raise capital come from both countries. Perhaps, the era of restructuring are not yet behind us and the sector needs still more integration.
MADRID | By Luis Arroyo | As the ECB’s stress tests showed, Spanish banks have enough capital to face a serious economic crisis, with a GDP contraction of 5%. However, this does not mean that Spanish lenders are going to start lending credit right now. Up to present nobody has been preventing them from doing so, and yet credit is not flowing.
ZURICH | By Ignacio Sanz at UBS | GDP expectations continue to improve, NPLs are starting to come down although we do not expect write-backs for any bank, capital looks comfortable ahead of AQR and banks show a healthy funding while underwriting new deposits at c0.5-0.7%. The market knows all that with banks trading north of 1x NAV15e although for retail banks making more than 10% ROE with 0% rates is challenging.
MADRID | By Álex García.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | The first TLTRO auction will not make history for its significance. Eurozone banks only asked for €82.6 billion, from which €14.147 million will go to Spanish entities (Santander €3bn; Caixabank €3bn; Popular 2.847 bn ; Bankia 2.7bn and BBVA 2.6bn), much less than the expected 100-150 billion, was firstly interpreted as a poor credit demand, although a second reading shows that lenders were right to be cautions.
MADRID | By Julia Pastor | As expected, ECB’s September TLTRO will not make big headlines. 255 European banks borrowed €82.6bn of liquidity below consensus estimate of €100-150bn. Although the Frankfurt-based institution doesn’t provide a geographical breakdown, banks in Italy and Spain were among the leading borrowers (40% of the total) to trim funding costs. Spanish entities are thought to have asked half of those €30bn at their disposal, although some entities “are not willing to disclose how much they asked for,” an ECB source confirmed to The Corner.
MADRID | The Corner | FOMC’s conclusions (the Fed is renewing its pledge on low rates) meaning little changes to the current rates scenario, the spotlight has shifted to the Scottish independence referendum (final results to be released around 5:30-6:30 GMT on Friday), which is presumably going to have an impact on European financial markets today. Also the ECB is publishing the results of its much-awaited first TLTRO operation today. It’s the most important cheap cash offer from the central lender since the beginning of the economic crisis which has been very popular in Spain and Italy. Spanish banks will aim for €30bn, Economy Minister said on Wednesday.
MADRID | By J.P. Marín Arrese | Only a few hours following the death of former Santander chief Emilio Botín, his daughter Ana Botín was thrust into the spotlight as his replacement. This offered further proof -if it were needed- of the firm grip on the Board of Directors which the family continues to hold. Its stake, reckoned to stand at less than 1%, has not prevented the swift transition from taking place.
MADRID | The Corner | Everything went by the book: after Spain’s largest bank Santander chairman Emilio Botin died on Wednesday, his daughter Ana Patricia Botín (53) was appointed to succeed him. Her long career in finance, closely supervised by his father, took her to the UK, where Santander bank gets 20% of its profits (Spain accounts for 14%). Britain’s third most powerful woman according to the BBC has now become Spain’s most influential in finance.