Europe: Fears mount over Spanish banks

Analysts say forbearance disguises scale of bad debt problem; Santander insists its own stress tests give it confidence

Emilio Botín’s Santander

Emilio Botín’s Santander lost one third of its value in three weeks

News that the Bank of Spain felt compelled to step in at the end of May and take over CajaSur, after the large Spanish savings bank failed to agree a rescue merger with Unicaja, jangled the market’s nerves once more.

The central bank assured creditors and depositors they had no cause for concern: “CajaSur accounts for scarcely 0.6% of the assets of the Spanish banking system, whose soundness will not be in the slightest affected by this situation.

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