Tag: FROB

Sareb Will Have To Capitalize More Debt To Avoid Bankruptcy

5 October 2015 – Expansión

On Friday, the Bank of Spain published an accounting circular that Sareb will be obliged to comply with this year. The company responsible for managing the real estate assets inherited from the banks that received public aid, acknowledged immediately that it will have to recognise new provisions. This means that the company will record losses once again. Furthermore, it is very likely that, as a result, Sareb will have to covert some of its subordinated debt into capital to prevent it from being wound up.

Sareb is coming to the end of its third year and is not scheduled to be wound up until it is 15 years old. However, during its first two years, it recorded total losses of more than €800 million, which reduced its initial capital from €1,200 million to just less than €400 million.

Now, the accounting circular, drafted by the Bank of Spain, is requiring that Sareb value all of its asset this year and next. This will involve a considerable effort by the company, which clearly separates out all of its assets. Sareb’s balance sheet comprises 100,000 own properties, 400,000 collaterals as guarantees and 70,000 loans.

The cost of (re)valuing the whole portfolio is estimated at €25 million until 2017, which would clearly have an impact on total costs.

The properties owned by Sareb should not represent a significant problem because the company is familiar with them, and has pretty good idea of their approximate market values. They even think that overall, their owned properties could generate some gains, although any such gains would not appear on the balance sheet.

The problem exists when it comes to valuing the loans and collateral guarantees that support them, because Sareb does not control or know those assets in as much detail. The general view is that valuing those assets at current prices will result in significant losses, which would be reflected directly in the income statement given that provisions would be required.

For this reason, and based on information from the experts at the company, a statement was made to the Board of Directors, formed by representatives of the Frob, which owns 45% of Sareb, and by representatives of the private (owner) banks, which own the remaining 55% majority stake, that it is certain that Sareb will register losses once again this year and may therefore need to convert some of its subordinated debt (subscribed by the shareholders in the same proportion to their capital stakes) into capital to rebuild the financial position of the company.

Sareb has subordinated debt amounting to €3,600 million, a much higher figure than it would have to convert (into capital) to solve the problem posed by the circular, without having to resort to a possible capital increase.

Although officially, the heads of Sareb have not communicated a specific figure to the Board in terms of the size of the losses for the year, sources at the bad bank are talking about provisions of no less than €500 million.

This year, Sareb is selling fewer properties to individuals than it did last year, for various reasons, including because the management of certain assets has been transferred from the ceding banks to specialist companies, which won the tender held earlier in the year.

Original story: Expansión (by Salvador Arancibia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Sareb Sells Residential Land In Madrid For €14M

13 August 2015 – El Digital de Madrid

The huge plot of land between the GAL and Vía Complutense, which covers more than 30,000 m2 in total, will house up to 351 new homes in the future. Or at least that is the hope of the company Caviglia Corporate, owned by the US property developer Turnstone Corporate, which has just completed the purchase of the plot from Sareb, the so-called ‘bad bank’ (…).

The operation, announced by Haya Real Estate, which acted as the intermediary between the owner and the buyer, has not involved the participation of the Local Council, at least publicly, since it is a private commercial transaction between two parties. However, the fact that one of them has a strong public component (at least 45% of Sareb belongs to the State through the FROB) means that special importance is conferred to the future role of the Complutense Administration.

The land is located next to the former GAL factory, where only the main façade of the building remains for its architectural value, and will adjoin Vía Complutense, the residential area built almost a decade ago now and Hotel Rafael.

The transaction, which has closed for €14 million, is one of the largest to be completed by Sareb in the Community of Madrid, where it operates through promoters such as Haya, which, in exchange for commission, tries to “place” all kinds of real estate properties, ranging from land to housing, that the ‘bad bank’ acquired from the savings banks during the economic crisis (…).

Original story: El Digital de Madrid

Translation: Carmel Drake

The Electoral Shift May Undermine Operación Chamartín

27 May 2015 – El Mundo

The Ministry of Development fears that the electoral shift may undermine the plans for the project known as Distrito Castellana Norte, which is worth more than €6,000 million.

From June, the new municipal political map in Spain will face decisions regarding the future of dozens of urban development projects in the country’s large capital cities, worth thousands of millions of euros, many of which are still awaiting licence approvals from their respective town halls.

The largest one is Operación Chamartín, in Madrid, the largest urban development plan in the capital. The project has been in the pipeline for 20 years – four less than the Partido Popular held office for at the town hall – and was accelerated in recent months by the incumbent mayoress, Ana Botella, in an effort to obtain the final approvals.

The inability to comply with all of the procedures required for the operation, located in the North of the capital, covering 3.7 km in length and three million square metres in surface area, with plans to build 17,000 homes, as well as offices, retail areas and green spaces, forced Botella to leave the final approval (of the project) in the hands of her successors at the Town Hall. Specifically, to the resolution of around 1,800 claims and above all, to the approval of a partial plan for the extension of the Paseo de la Castellana.

Until 24 May, it was expected that a new municipal team led by the Partido Popular would continue the project, which promises to transfer the centre of the city from Puerta del Sol to the North. But the setback suffered by the Partido Popular in the capital last Sunday leaves the project in the air. The most likely option, that of a left-wing coalition between Ahora Madrid and the PSOE, is raising concerns amongst the stakeholders. The focus of the likely team, led by Manuela Carmena, would centre on social housing rather than on million-euro urban developments.

The project known as Distrito Castellana Norte is estimated to be worth more than €6,000 million; BBVA and the construction company Grupo San José are the main partners in terms of financing and development. The operation also includes municipal and regional land, but the majority is owned by the Ministry of Development, and in particular, its two largest companies: Renfe and Adif.

The urban development plan that Ana Botella was unable to finalise involves covering over the train tracks at Chamartín station. The value that the sale of this land to BBVA and San José would have for the companies owned by the Ministry of Development amounts to €1,200 million, most of which would be paid to Adif, whose debt amounts to €18,000 million this year, making it the State’s most indebted public company, behind only the FROB (Fund for the Orderly Restructuring of the Banking Sector). Given the financing needs of the conventional railway infrastructure companies and the lack of funds available for such investments, the minister Ana Pastor has publicly backed the plan. In fact, Adif was already counting on the payment of €200 million this year based on the approval of the pendingpartial Plan.

Now the deadlines are being called into question, at least the fast-track option is, which carries the support of the incumbent town hall. But the amendment, rejection or definitive approval of the largest chapter in the capital’s urban planning cannot be left on the sidelines for long.

After its launch in 1995, with the granting of land to the current BBVA, the project has survived (changes in) municipal teams, real estate bubbles and judicial processes, which have delayed its approval and halved the value that the property developers were guaranteed to generate.

In the end, last year, the grant was awarded, but BBVA and the Grupo San José extended their offer up to a maximum deadline of 2016. If there is no partial plan by the new Town Hall and the new extension expires, the Ministry of Development will see its largest urban development project die, although it is likely to be a legacy that another Government will pick up in due course.

Original story: El Mundo (by César Urrutia)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Bankia’s Divestment Plan Comes To An End After 400+ Sales

20 April 2015 – Expansión

97% of the plan has been completed / In two years, the entity has transferred 200 investments, 130 real estate companies and 80 loan portfolios, amounting to more than €15,000 million.

Over the last two years, Bankia’s divestment team has had to go to the notary’s office every other day. The intense activity in terms of the sale of investments and loan portfolios has resulted in 400+ transactions since 2013 and the entity is now close to fulfilling the mandate imposed on it by Brussels.

In total, Bankia has transferred 200 financial and industrial investments; 130 real estate companies; and 80 problem loan portfolios, according to sources close to the entity.

Thus, Bankia has already exceeded the target it was set of divesting more than €50,000 million non-strategic assets – by the end of 2014, the figure was close to €59,000 million – but not all of the companies that were agreed as part of its rescue have been transferred. 3% of the plan agreed as part of the rescue still needs to be completed.

In this final sprint, which Bankia has until 2017 to complete, the entity will have to sell off dozens (tens) of real estate and industrial companies, many of which have filed for liquidation and have hardly any value.

Strong reputation

Over the last two years, the team at Bankia, led by the Director of Investments, Manuel Lagares, has earned the respect of foreign investors by closing the sale of portfolios worth €10,000 million and financial and industrial investments, worth €5,500 million.

Although Bankia was forced to make these divestments, the funds value the fact that it is one of the few entities that has not held back from sales processes and that it stands out as one of the best entities to have adapted to demand. Thus, overseas investors recognise that one of the first doors that they call at upon arriving in Spain is that of the bank chaired by José Ignacio Gorigolzarri (pictured above), as well as those of Sareb and the Frob.

Although Bankia has now almost completed its divestment plan, the entity continues to be very active in the market, as it seeks to improve its balance sheet and free up non-productive assets.

Some of the largest transactions conducted by the team at Bankia include the sales of its shares in: Iberdrola, which it sold for €1,500 million; Mapfre, for which it obtained €1,250 million; IAG, for which it earned €675 million; and Indra, which it transferred for €337 million.

Recently, the entity had decided one of the great real estate battles in recent years, which involved Realia, where it agreed to sell its 25% stake to Carlos Slim. It may also decide to transfer its stake in Globalvia soon, for which it is negotiating, together with FCC, with the Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Berhad.

Other transactions

Another transaction in the pipeline involves the sale of City National Bank of Florida, its North American subsidiary, which is pending authorisation by the Federal Reserve.

Together with its investments, Bankia has also transferred lines of business such as its asset manager, which was acquired by Cerberus; and Bankia Bolsa, which it transferred to GVC.

Original story: Expansión (by Jorge Zuloaga)

Translation: Carmel Drake

BBVA’s Purchase Of Catalunya Banc Is “Unblocked”

16 April 2015 – El Mundo

Yesterday, the US fund Blackstone finalised its purchase of a portfolio of problematic assets from Catalunya Banc (which is known by its commercial name: ‘Catalunya Caixa’) for €4,123 million. This transaction unblocks the acquisition of that entity by BBVA, which now just needs to be approved by the EU’s competition authorities.

The Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (the FROB) confirmed yesterday that the transaction had been conducted through the transfer of the portfolio to an asset securitisation fund, with the support of the public body itself, which sits under the Ministry of the Economy.

Specifically, the FROB will subscribe to a bond issue amounting to €524.9 million, whilst Blackstone will contribute €3,598.4 million. As a result of this transaction, the US fund will acquire a portfolio of problematic loans amounting to almost €6,400 million. Last summer, the portfolio aroused (a great deal of) interest from several funds that specialise in the management of doubtful debts.

Boost to business

The completion of this sale was a necessary condition for BBVA’s purchase of Catalunya Banc to go ahead. BBVA won the competitive tender against Santander and CaixaBank.

The entity chaired by Francisco González offered €1,187 million for the ill-fated savings bank, although the final price will be lower once cumulative tax credits have been deducted and because a series of guarantees will take effect in the event that the assets acquired are impaired by more than expected.

This purchase has allowed BBVA to gain a significant presence in Catalunya, where it is now the second largest entity by market share (accounting for almost 30%), exceeded only by CaixaBank. The transaction has also allowed BBVA to boost its asset management business, by adding around €2,000 million of assets under management.

Just like in the case of Novagalicia, the tender for Catalunya Banc has received criticism from those who believe that the State has rushed to sell of both of the entities. The losses of the Catalan entity alone amounted to €11,500 million.

Original story: El Mundo (by J. G. Gallego)

Translation: Carmel Drake

The State Will Lose €1,000m From Martinsa’s Liquidation

4 March 2015 – Expansión

The collapse of the real estate company will result in losses of €1,000 million for Bankia and the ‘bad bank’.

According to experts, Blesa assumed ‘a high risk’ in the company for ‘possible favourable treatment’.

The State will become the biggest loser following the largest liquidation in Spain’s history. The bankruptcy of Martinsa Fadesa will have already cost Bankia – due to the loans it inherited from the savings banks it acquired – and the bad bank Sareb more than €1,000 million and this amount may end up exceeding €1,3000 million, according to sources from the real estate sector.

The Chairman of Martinsa Fadesa, Fernando Martín (pictured), has filed for the company’s liquidation after he failed to reach an agreement with its creditors, led by Sareb. The bad bank holds debt of more than €1,400 million that it inherited mainly from Caja Madrid, but also from other nationalised savings banks. According to sources at Martinsa, it would have been less costly for the bad bank – whose financial risk is guaranteed 100% by the State – to accept an agreement with Martín, because then it would have been able to recover at least 25% of its debt, but that now becomes impossible due to its bankruptcy.

Yesterday, various vulture funds offered to purchase Martinsa Fadesa’s debt for a discount of up to 96%, given the high probability that all of the creditors will lose the bulk of the funds they lent, according to market sources.

Sources at Sareb responded that, “unfortunately, the best option is the one that has gone ahead; there was no viable alternative in terms of (the real estate company’s) continuity”. At the bad bank, whose primary shareholder is the state-owned FROB, with a 45% stake, they think that it too early to talk about and quantify losses. They still think that they will be able to recover the amount loaned to Martinsa Fadesa from the liquidation of its assets in the full course of time.

Sareb is Martinsa’s main creditor with its aforementioned debt of €1,400 million, followed by CaixaBank (€908 million) and Banco Popular (€580 million). In total, the real estate company’s debt amounts to €7,000 million and the creditors consider that only €800 million of the real estate company’s assets have any value; they are going to dispute them to avoid Sareb taking a clean sweep.

The background to this disaster began in 2007 when, according to expert reports from the Bank of Spain, Caja Madrid became “one of the entities that assumed the most risk in the merger of Martinsa and Fadeas” when it assumed exposure in the real estate company amounting to €1,032 million “of which only 28% was secured”. The experts maintain that the then Chairman of Caja Madrid, Miguel Blesa, was incited by the offer of “possible favourable treatment” from the real estate company created by Fernando Martín. The person responsible for granting the loan at Caja Madrid, Carlos Vela, was hired by Martín as the new CEO but, one year later, he was recruited back to the savings bank again by Blesa, days before the real estate company logged its first suspension of payments. Subsequently, Caja Madrid’s exposure to Martinsa was taken on by the new BFA-Bankia group, together with other amounts from Bancaja and the other savings banks that were integrated as part of the merger. And in 2012, the European Union conditioned its bailout of the Spanish banking sector on the creation of Sareb, amongst other measures. The then new Chairman of Bankia, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri, transferred the toxic assets to Sareb at a discount of more than 50%, which represented the State’s first loss of more than €500 million in the case of Martinsa, although the entity did not disclose the actual amount. Other nationalised savings banks did the same thing, whereby converting Sareb into Martinsa Fadesa’s largest creditor.

Sareb was confident that, having purchased the debt at a discount, it would be able to recover and even make a profit on its exposure, if Martinsa Fadesa managed to improve its situation, however that proved impossible. Last year, Fernando Martín offered the bad bank a refinancing agreement, which involved a haircut of 66% in return for becoming a shareholder. Sareb ruled that option out as it questioned Martín’s management and the fact that the Chairman had earned a fixed salary of €1.5million per year despite the company’s woes.

Sources close to the property developer say that this salary “is negligible compared with the €2,400 million that he himself lost following the acquisition of Fadesa” and they deny that representatives from Sareb and from other banks had requested his departure during the final weeks in return for accepting the haircut. “They have not made that request in any of the meetings, on the contrary, they have asked him to continue at the helm”.

The creditor banks indicate that, like with all liquidation cases, there will now be an investigation to determine whether Martín is criminally liable; they criticise the fact that he has embarked on expensive adventures in recent months, such as filing the lawsuit against the former owner of Fadesa, Manuel Jove. “The legal costs of the defeat against Jove may exceed €60 million”. “False”,  reply Martinsa, “they will be less than €20 million”,.

Either way, the figures are vast, and mean that the real estate company becomes a symbol of the rise and fall of the property boom that was supported by the savings banks.

It now remains to be seen who will administer the complex liquidation process. The favourite, KPMG, may be conflicted out because it has worked with Sareb in the past.

Original story: Expansión

Translation: Carmel Drake

Popular, BBVA & Sabadell Have Lowered Their Lending Rates The Most

18 February 2015 – Expansión

«We will have to work up a sweat»: Warned the Chairman of the Banking Association, José María Roldán, at the end of last year, when he predicted that the fierce competition between financial institutions to supply credit to solvent clients in Spain would continue well into 2015.

The economic recovery, the lower cost of financing and the ever declining profitability of fixed income securities are spurring a trade war between the banks, which first took each other on in a battle to provide loans to SMEs and then moved onto mortgages.

In the race to expand their customer bases and secure customer loyalty, whilst at the same time protecting their market shares, banks have reduced the cost of credit in the last year, although the size of the reductions vary a lot between entities, according to information compiled from their respective results presentations.

Popular, BBVA and Sabadell have lowered their lending rates the most in the last year. The entity led by Ángel Ron (Popular) leads the ranking in terms of commercial aggressiveness, with a decrease of 34 basis points, which placed its credit yield at 3.53% at the end of 2014. Even so, its yield remains the highest in the Spanish banking sector.

Next, BBVA and Sabadell have applied a price cut of 20 and 19 basis points, respectively, bringing their interest rates to 3.32% and 2.80% in each case. To a lesser extent, Santander has also made its loans in Spain cheaper (by -6 basis points), and so too have Caixabank (-2 basis points) and Bankinter (by one basis point).

Popular, Sabadell and BBVA also lowered their lending rates during the last quarter of 2014, with respect to the previous quarter, whereas all of the other entities chose to maintain their rates unchanged. In any case, the downwards trend in the price of loans granted by Spanish banks is mitigated by the fact that the overall yield depends on the performance of the whole portfolio and not only on that of new loans.

Bankia is not included in this analysis, because it has not yet presented its results for 2014. It is awaiting notification of the percentage of the charge that the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (the FROB) will assume in the payment of compensation for the claims made against its IPO in 2011.

The banks consider that reducing returns on deposits will continue to offset the lower returns on its loans, and therefore they will avoid any squeeze on their client margins, which is following a slight upwards trend, and will allow them to protect their results from the top of the income statement.

However, the price of retail liabilities is ever closer to bottoming out, and therefore the main challenge facing the banks in the short term is to try to offset cheaper loans with higher volumes during a year in which the total credit balance will remain stable or increase slightly, according to some entities.

In any case, in the second phase of the loan war that has begun this year, price is not the only competitive advantage being offered by the banks; they are also increasingly striving to adapt their products to the needs of clients.

In terms of loans to companies, businesses value the speed of response to their loan requests and in-depth knowledge of their business and needs. In terms of the mortgage offer, the requirement to link them to other indicators and products (payroll, average balances, credit cards, insurance, pensions, etc.) is decreasing and the amount loaned as a percentage of the property value (LTV) is increasing.

Original story: Expansión (by Alicia Crespo)

Translation: Carmel Drake

Spanish Banks’ Q4 Results Show Demand For Loans Picking Up

2 February 2015 – WSJ

Two Spanish lenders, Caixabank SA and Banco Popular Español SA, reported fourth-quarter results on Friday that showed an uptick in demand for loans as the country chugs toward economic recovery.

Caixabank and Banco Popular said new loans were up in the fourth quarter compared with a year earlier, led by demand from businesses in particular, while mortgage lending was less vibrant. That trend was in line with results reported on Thursday by Banco de Sabadell SA.

Still, an increase in loan issuance wasn’t enough to offset the wave of individuals and businesses that are focused on paying down their existing debts, rather than taking on new debt. The amount Caixabank lent to customers in 2014 fell nearly 5% compared with the previous year and 0.5% at Banco Popular during the same period.

Caixabank Chief Executive Gonzalo Gortázar said new loan production in 2015, particularly to businesses, is likely to be strong enough to outpace the rate at which borrowers are paying off debts. Caixabank is likely to see its total loan portfolio grow around 7% in 2015, Mr. Gortázar said at a news conference, buoyed by the acquisition of Barclays PLC’s retail banking division in Spain, which closed on Jan. 2.

“Credit is returning to the economy,” Mr. Gortázar said. “New loan production is accelerating each quarter.”

Overall in the Spanish banking system, he said, total loan volumes should stop declining and stabilize around zero or 1%.

Sabadell executives said Thursday they anticipated a turnaround this year at their bank as well, with growth in the total loan book of around 1%-2% thanks to an increase in loans to small and medium-size businesses.

The “deleveraging” process in Spain has weakened lenders’ returns in recent quarters and makes analysts anxious about future growth. But bank executives acknowledge that it is healthy for individuals and businesses in Spain to slough off layers of debt accumulated during a frenzied building boom, which went bust starting in 2008 and sunk the country into several years of recession.

Caixabank reported net profit of €154 million ($174.3 million) in the fourth quarter of 2014. The bank said it had restated its 2013 accounts because of a contribution to Spain’s deposit guarantee fund, leading to a €142 million loss in the fourth quarter of 2013.

The Barcelona-based bank said fourth-quarter net interest income was €1.08 billion compared with €1.02 billion a year earlier. That was in line with analysts’ expectations.

Caixabank shares were down 2% in early afternoon trading in Madrid. Credit Suisse Group AG analysts said in a research report that the bank’s results were “mixed,” with weak trading income and higher-than expected impairments, including €195 million of early retirement charges.

Banco Popular, Spain’s sixth largest bank by market value, reported net profit of €99.4 million ($112.5 million) in the fourth quarter of 2014, up from €79.6 million a year earlier. The bank said fourth-quarter net interest income was €570.9 million compared with €581.5 million a year earlier. Banco Popular shares were up 0.7%.

Net interest income, a key driver of revenue for retail banks like Caixabank, is the difference between how much a bank earns on clients’ loans and how much it pays clients for their deposits.

Separately, Bankia SA has postponed its 2014 annual results presentation while Spain’s bank-bailout fund, known as Frob, weighs how potential litigation expenses should be divided between the bailed-out bank and its parent company, a Bankia spokesman said Friday.

Bankia, which Spain spent €22.4 billion in European Union funds to clean up in 2012 following a real-estate bust, was set to report earnings on Feb. 2.

Spain’s bank-bailout fund Frob still owns the majority of Bankia. The bailed-out bank, Spain’s fourth-largest by market value, is plagued by lawsuits triggered by fraud allegations related to its 2011 initial public offering. Investors in the IPO suffered steep losses when Bankia was later nationalized. Executives at Bankia at the time say the share sale was above board.

The Bankia spokesman said it is unclear when the bank’s 2014 results will be rescheduled.

Original story: WSJ (by Jeannette Neumann)

Edited by: Carmel Drake

Sareb Recorded Turnover Of €5,000m In 2014

29 January 2015 – Cinco Días

Echegoyen strengthens his team with a man from Barclays

Jaime Echegoyen has made his debut as the Chairman of Sareb, following the surprise resignation of Belén Romana on Monday, by analysing the entity’s provisional accounts for 2014.

In a meeting on Wednesday, the Board of Directors estimated that Sareb will close the year will total revenues of €5,000 million and an EBITDA of €1,000 million.

The final figures will be subject to a ruling by the Bank of Spain, which has not yet published the definitive accounting regulations that will govern the bad bank’s results; it is expected to require that an extraordinary provision be applied to the company’s accounts.

Sareb’s turnover in 2014, as valued by the company itself in a statement, exceeded the amount recorded in 2013 by almost one third. This, says the company “shows the capacity” that it has “both to generate resources through the management and sale of its assets, as well as to assume the commitments of debt cancelation”.

Based on last year’s accounts, Sareb will have repaid €3,416 million of the debt issued to acquire its portfolio, i.e. more than the €3,000 million initially envisaged, of which €2,916 million has already been paid; the remainder will be paid in February. Moreover, the company has made interest payments amounting to €1,135 million on that debt.

Once this process has been completed, Sareb will have repaid €5,416 million of its debt, which has the backing of the state, in just two years.

“Sareb is fulfilling its main objective, which is to manage and sell its portfolio without generating higher costs for the taxpayer”, explained Jaime Echegoyen at the first ordinary meeting held by Sareb’s Board in 2015.

Almost €1,000 million of the total revenues related to the sale of 13 wholesale portfolios, primarily to international investors.

“Although we do not yet know the accounting framework that will be applied to our results in 2014, we can say that the company has achieved the objectives that were set for it last year, and has deepened its strategy for the generation of greater value from the portfolio”, said Echegoyen. “We have a highly skilled workforce that this year has managed more than 10,700 proposals from developers for example; furthermore, the gradual entry into operation of the new contracted servicers will allow us to improve efficiency and provide an increased commercial focus”, he added.

Echegoyen’s first appointment

In parallel, Sareb’s Board of Directors approved a proposal to strengthen its management team, which has lost six members, including Romana, in the last 14 months (in addition, three directors have been replaced).

Juan Ramón Dios Rial will now join as the company’s Director of Recoveries and Restructuring. He comes from Barclays, where Echegoyen was previously CEO.

According to Sareb, Juan Ramón has extensive experience in the management of risk and the restructuring of debt relating to the real estate business. The new director will take over the role currently held by Enrique Saiz, who will continue to collaborate with the company.

Original story: Cinco Días

Translation: Carmel Drake

Liberbank returns €124 Million To Frob

24/12/2014 – El Mundo

Liberbank has retired in advance the issued contingent convertible bonds (CoCo’s) of €124 million purchased by the FROB within a plan to recapitalize the company, through which it has returned the aid. With this, the company has a blue-chip capital ratio of 13.5%, far exceeding the minimum requirement of 8%.

Original article: El Mundo

Translation: Aura REE