Spain completes savings bank restructuring

Spain said on Friday it has completed the restructuring of its regional savings banks, injecting another 7.55 billion euros into a sector which nearly brought down the country in the fallout from the 2008 global financial crisis. Bank of Spain governor Miguel Angel Fernandez Ordonez said 568 million euros went to Unnim, 2.47 billion euros to NovaCaixaGalicia and 1.72 billion euros to CatalunyaCaixa from a state restructuring fund. The state bought out the fourth bank, Caja Mediterraneo, for 2.8 billion euros in June. "The recapitalisation process is complete," Ordonez told a news conference. "All the savings banks have fulfilled the new solvency requirements." Friday was the deadline for the restructuring, which saw 45 regional savings banks merged into 15, with most of them becoming regular commercial banks. The central bank granted a 25-day extension on Friday however to two other savings banks, Banco Mare Nostrum and Liberbank, to give them more time to find private investors to bolster their financial position.