El País: The BBVA criticises slow savings banks reform
28 October 2010
Angel Cano, chief executive of BBVA, Spain’s second-biggest listed bank, called for the restructuring to be completed so that bankers could begin 2011 “with equal conditions and on a level playing field”.
Spanish lenders have seen their interest margins squeezed by the combination of low mortgage lending rates and a price war for retail deposits because of the difficulty of raising wholesale finance.
Mr Cano specifically criticised the deposit rates of up to 4.75 per cent offered by some cajas, arguing that such campaigns were bound to generate losses that were unacceptable for institutions receiving public aid.
For weeks, bankers have privately criticised the weaker cajas for embarking on formal mergers without tackling the need to cut staff and close branches in order to reduce costs, but this is the first time they have spoken in public.
The original 45 cajas have been reduced to 18 holding groups with the help of nearly €11bn ($15bn) of aid from the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring and €3.8bn from a deposit guarantee fund, but bankers say the Bank of Spain is now demanding a “second round” of reforms to complete the process.
