Spain Business
Spain Business Brief – Monday November 16 2009
By m.p. - Nov 16, 2009 - 1:17 PM
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Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez, Governor of the Bank of Spain - EFE
The Governor of the Bank of Spain says a third of Spain's Savings Banks need to merge to restructure the sector
The governor of the Bank of Spain believes a third of the country’s 45 Savings Banks need to merge if Spain’s financial system is to be brought back to health. Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez said in an interview published by the Financial Times this Monday that many mergers are already under discussion and he hopes that the restructuring will be in place by next spring. He said at least 15 need to go. To do that, the paper said, Fernández Ordóñez wants to use new regulations in Spain which established a Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring which is funded with 99 billion €.
El Mundo notes the latest merger as Caja Castilla La Mancha’s purchase of Cajastur, with others on the way in Cataluña to form two institutions out of seven savings banks.
The Governor of the Bank of Spain has meanwhile ruled out an interest rate hike by the Central European Bank and said the markets are not expecting any changes before the second half of next year.
There’s conflict at Repsol in relations between Luis Del Rivero, Chairman of Sacyr, the construction company which owns 20% in the oil company, and the Repsol Chairman, Antonio Brufau. El Mundo said Sacyr is questioning the Repsol board’s management over falling results, increased investment commitments and cuts in dividend. The paper said Del Rivero may be considering attempting to remove Brufau as Chairman.
Figures released by the Employment Ministry show that officially-approved redundancy plans have affected more than 462,000 workers for the first 9 months of this year. It’s a massive increase of 545% on the same period of 2008. More than 100,000 of the workers affected are in Cataluña.
There’s both good and bad news from the National Statistics Institute for property sales in Spain, which were up by 10.6% in September compared with the August figure, but were down by more than 17% compared with September 2008. 37,621 homes were sold in September this year, with new properties making up 53.5% of the total figure. Sales dropped between January and the end of September this year by 28.8%.
And finally, it’s been revealed that Spain’s Industry Minister, Miguel Sebastián, has cancelled his membership of Greenpeace, 25 years after he signed up as a member of the environmental organisation. It’s said to be over the Greenpeace criticism of the Minister on his stance on the Garoña nuclear plant and the Spanish government’s energy policy.