Markets across Europe were rocked this morning after more bad economic news for banks in Spain.
Late Thursday credit agency Moody’s cut the credit ratings of sixteen Spanish banks. Moody’s also cut the credit rating of Santander UK, the British subsidiary of Spanish banking giant Santander.
Moody’s stated reasons for the downgrade included Spain’s return to a recession, bad loans in the property industry and financial challenges for the government. Continue reading
Shares in the Spanish bank, Bankia, were down 14% after reports about the struggling bank’s finances.
The bank denied reports that customers had withdrawn over 1 billion euros from various accounts. The bank is set to be part-nationalized.
A Royal Bank of Scotland spokesman said that the problem is that the Spanish government cannot bear all the weight of the banks in Spain should they all fail at the same time. Continue reading
Just hours after Standard & Poor’s downgraded Spain’s debt, the beleaguered nation reported a record high in unemployment.
Official figures show an employment rate of 24.4% with over 5.6 million people looking for work. Continue reading