santander
April 19th, 2010
Spain urged savings banks to continue their restructuring process on Wednesday and said it was essential that banks keep lending to businesses in order to stimulate the economy. A far-reaching overhaul of the system was necessary for the banking process to work, Economy Secretary Jose Manuel Campa said at a banking ...
Continue reading Spain Urges Banks to Keep Lending
April 15th, 2010
A price war for deposits between Spanish lenders could be the catalyst for mass failure of the country's struggling savings bank system, according to bankers and analysts. Troubles for the regional savings banks, or cajas, may even trigger sovereign debt problems in the eurozone's fourth-biggest economy. BBVA, Spain's number two private ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Face Price War
April 13th, 2010
From Ask the Experts in the Homes section of this week's Sunday Times: "My husband and I would like to buy a small holiday home in Spain - something with lots of character, in a traditional village, where we can take our young children. Where should we start?" - K Roberts, ...
Continue reading The Best Time in Years to Buy in Spain
April 6th, 2010
Despite indications that the decline in Spanish house prices is slowing, most experts say there is room for further falls. With an estimated 1m unsold or unfinished residential Spanish properties when the housing bubble burst in 2007, many say the price adjustment could take another two or three years to play ...
Continue reading Spanish House Prices: More Room to Fall
March 23rd, 2010
Quick quiz: Name three internationally renowned Spanish companies. Santander? Sol Melia? and erm .. Ever heard of Inditex? If not, you've definitely heard of the high-street brand Zara which they own. Yes, a Spanish company is behind one of the most successful high-street retailing stories of the last decade. ...
Continue reading Spain: 3 More Reasons to be Cheerful
March 5th, 2010
The idea that Spain could become a target of the world’s markets, an economic basket case weighing down the euro, is a preposterous notion, but not an unthinkable one. It’s preposterous in the sense that this is a great, energetic, creative and competent nation that in about 25 years shed a ...
Continue reading Spanish Economy on the Edge
February 26th, 2010
The Bank of Spain is expected to increase the provisions it demands of Spanish lenders to cover property bought from struggling real estate developers. The central bank’s move would further dent bank profits already hit by economic recession, according to financial sources and bank analysts. In November, the central bank raised its ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Face Higher Provisions
February 5th, 2010
Elena Salgado, the normally sprightly Spanish finance minister, could not disguise her discomfort when she announced an austerity plan designed to slash successive budget deficits and restore the country's credibility on international markets. She had good reason to be uneasy. The table of figures she presented on Friday showing Spain's "fiscal ...
Continue reading Spain at Risk of Greek Problem
January 12th, 2010
Last week I mentioned that 2010 had started briskly for Kyero.com. Comparing the first week of 2010 with that of 2009, we've seen substantial increases across all metrics. Overall page views up by 46% Unique visitors up by 63% Property page views up by 47% Property enquiries up by 34% Clicks to estate agent ...
Continue reading Spanish Property Popularity Rising – Why?
December 31st, 2009
Spanish savings banks have begun selling off the large property portfolios they acquired as collateral from loan defaults, in an effort to improve solvency ratios, a move that risks further falls in property values that could impair the value of their asset books. In Spain, the global financial crisis that erupted ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Saddled With Property Debt
November 30th, 2009
Demonised by agents for keeping prices artificially high to avoid losses, or making it harder for agents to access distressed deals, many now feel that Spanish banks must become better estate agents if the market is to recover. Ian Waudby, chairman of investment consultancy Crest Group International, observes that the companies ...
Continue reading Spanish Banks Should be Better 'Estate Agents'
November 6th, 2009
The latest figures for planning approvals show that for the residential construction sector there is still plenty of bad news out there. Bank of Spain to double provisions in move that may drive property prices down. The depressing news for anyone who makes a living building homes in Spain is that ...
Continue reading Spanish Property Swings & Roundabouts
October 27th, 2009
I am constantly frustrated by Spanish bureaucracy and how it negatively affects Spain's ability to compete in business internationally. However, this week, I caught sight of an article about Community Enterprise which praises Spain for its commercial initiatives in the 1950's: "The Mondragón cooperatives in the Basque region of Spain are perhaps ...
Continue reading Spain: Volatility & Opportunity in Equal Measure
October 19th, 2009
Fitch Ratings says in a report published today that the Spanish banking system has weathered the global financial crisis successfully to date with no need for capital support from the state. This is due to its retail banking focus, prudent regulation and limited exposure to structured products and complex instruments. However, ...
Continue reading Fitch: Major Spanish Banks Sound Despite Challenges
October 6th, 2009
Maria Jose Lozano, a civil servant from Madrid, left a recent property fair empty-handed after discovering that home prices were still out of reach in a market where sales have dropped 50 percent from their 2006 peak. “We came here expecting to find a bargain, or at the very least some ...
Continue reading More Pain as Spanish Banks Avoid Property Losses
