The Spanish government had already been forced to part-nationalise the lender earlier this month and reports last week that customers had pulled €1bn out of the bank triggered a 30pc fall in shares.
Mr de Guindos said a total restructuring of the bank would occur after a thorough assessment and that the government would seek to sell Bankia once it has been cleaned up, as part of a strategy to restore investor confidence in the country’s banking sector.
The minister sought to ease concerns as fears about the health of the Spanish banking system have mounted in recent weeks because of their exposure to the collapsed property market. Spanish banks have an estimated €184bn of what the Bank of Spain describes “problematic” real estate-linked assets.
A week ago Moody’s slashed the ratings of 16 Spanish banks, citing the reduced ability of the Spanish government to provide support to the sector, as well as the “adverse operating conditions” created by a renewed recession.
The ratings agency also downgraded Santander UK, although it noted it has “no direct exposure to the Spanish government (or regional governments)”.
Spain has appointed consultancies Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger to carry out a stress test on the nation’s lenders, the results of which are to be published in the second half of June.
“The question is now about the long-term solvency of parts of Spain’s banking system, especially what is going to happen with mortgage loan default. This concern is not being addressed,” said Martin van Vliet, senior economist at ING.
Access to Finance for Women, G20 - Unlocking Economic Potential - huffingtonpost.co.uk
The G20 represents the world's most important industrialised and developing economies and is the premier forum for international economic growth and development across the globe. Next month's meeting in Mexico brings an opportunity for the G20 to recognise the critical role that women play in global economic growth and stability in roles as producers, consumers, employees, and entrepreneurs. It is the G20's duty to call for women's inclusion to ensure they receive access to finance, markets, ownership of land, and the education and training that will allow them to operate in today's economy.
In these challenging financial times the world cannot afford to ignore the collective potential of women to contribute to economic development whilst improving the wellbeing of their families. Their business acumen is very often underpinned by a drive not only to improve their own future but also to provide for their families.
The meeting of the G20 leaders is an important event when changes can be made and challenges discussed. This year advancing financial inclusion for economic growth has been established as top priorities for the summit.
Women all over the world are constantly faced with the inability to provide for themselves and their family, blocked by discrimination and cultural norms forcing them to face an unnecessarily bleak future. Although women are often the main provider for the family, they are disadvantaged by access to finance or no access at all. If this was rectified they would be able to pay for their children to go to school and enable the next generation to have a better future, as well as be more stable providers for the family.
Agriculture plays a critical role in millions of women's survival. By giving a women access to finance in a rural village, she can purchase a solar panel and start a small business through her neighbours paying to charge their electrical goods, or she can purchase livestock to feed her family and produce goods to sell. Equal access to finance will open many doors for these women who currently have nowhere to turn and are discriminated against because of their gender.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and Farming First have produced an interactive graphic showing how women play a leading role in agriculture around the world and the challenges they are up against due to inequality. Investing in rural women has been proven to dramatically increase productivity and positively impact their lives. This doesn't just help women but also the family they are providing for and the communities they are members of.
On average in developing countries, 43% of the agricultural labour force are women and account for an estimated two-thirds of the world's 600 million poor livestock keepers. These women are discriminated against by societies, laws, tradition and access, that prevent them from owning and inheriting land.
By removing these gender discriminations it would dramatically improve food and nutrition security globally, and enable millions of women to provide for their families.
There are signs of progress with the G20 Finance Ministers recognising the need to increase women's access to financial services. This has been helped by the organisation La Pietra Coalition who has been asking the G20 to take action to advance women's financial inclusion, by endorsing the recommendations of the IFC and GPFI, and to insist that progress towards those commitments for women be measured and reported publicly.
I urge banks to work to ensure women have access and support to be able to obtain finance. I call on the G20 leaders to create the environment where women receive the support they deserve and require in order to continue to build on their contribution to the global economy. If the G20 collaborates with banks we can really start to tackle the disparities that exist in the global market and work towards creating a better environment for women.
Follow Baroness Mary Goudie on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BaronessGoudie
FOREX-Euro falls to almost two-year low on Greek fears - Reuters
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
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FOREX-Euro sinks to 21-mth low as Greek exit fears rise - Reuters India
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
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The Business Finance Store Discusses Small Business Debt Collection - Consumer Electronics Net
Double Vision: What does 'watching TV' mean to viewers in the era of multiple screens?
NEW YORK (AP) ' As a kid, I dreamed of having a telephone that was plugged into my family's TV and would let me ring up whoever I was watching. With this special phone, I could reach my favorite TV stars, introduce myself and talk to them about their shows.
It would've been so great. But I always knew it was an impossible dream. Flash forward ..... Read More >>related stories
Forex: USD/CHF rallies above 0.9500 - FXStreet.com
FOREX-Euro drops to 21-month low as break up risks mount - Reuters
* Euro hits 21-month low vs dollar before EU summit
* Dollar index hits highest since Sept 2010, yen firmer
* Growth-linked currencies take a hit
By Anirban Nag
LONDON, May 23 (Reuters) - The euro fell to a 21-month low against the dollar on Wednesday as investors added to bearish bets on growing concerns about a chaotic Greek exit and widespread scepticism about the outcome from an EU summit due later in the day.
EU leaders are expected to discuss growth-boosting measures at an informal summit but they are not expected to produce any plan that would restore optimism among investors, especially given Germany remains strongly opposed to joint euro bonds.
Investors are doubtful that the leaders will come up with any measures to calm fears that have grown since an inconclusive Greek election earlier this month left the country on the path to bankruptcy and a possible exit from the euro zone.
The euro fell to $1.2615 on trading platform EBS, dropping below the 2012 low of $1.2624 set in January to mark its lowest since August 2010 as real money investors, corporates and macro funds stepped up euro selling.
Traders reported an option barrier at $1.2600 with stop-loss orders below $1.2575. It was last trading at $1.2640, still down 0.3 percent on the day, with option expiries at $1.2650 and $1.2725-30 likely to check gains.
"The euro's downtrend is entrenched and we think there are too many risks of potentially nasty outcomes in the euro zone, especially with regard to what will happen to Greece," said Ned Rumpeltin, currency strategist at Standard Chartered.
"We expect euro to be at $1.25 by the end of the quarter, but today's close will be very important in the short term. If there is a bounce, we will see the euro consolidating a bit more, but if we end near today's lows, then we should see it weaken further. In any case the euro is a sell on a rebound."
Fears that Greece may have to leave the euro grew after Dow Jones earlier quoted former prime minister Lucas Papademos as saying Greece had no choice but to stick with a painful austerity programme or face a damaging exit from the euro zone.
His clarification in a television interview later offered little respite to the struggling euro, which has shed 4.5 percent against the dollar so far this month.
Apart from concerns about political uncertainty in Greece, investors remain edgy about the potential for contagion and troubles in the Spanish banking sector.
"There may be some very minor support at the August 2010 low (of $1.2588) but generally ... most market players (are) targeting $1.25," said Andrew Robinson, FX analyst for Saxo Capital Markets in Singapore.
DOLLAR INDEX AT 20-MONTH HIGH
Growing worries about a possible exit by Greece supported safe-haven assets and currencies. Reflecting those fears, European powerhouse Germany sold two-year government debt on which it will pay no interest, its first zero-interest issue with such a maturity.
Safe-haven currencies like the U.S. dollar and the yen remained the key beneficiaries from the euro zone crisis. The dollar index, which measures the dollar's value against a basket of major currencies, rose to 81.913 - a 20-month high.
The euro fell to a 3-1/2 month low against the yen of 100.16 yen on EBS while high-yielding currencies like the Australian and New Zealand dollars fell sharply. The U.S. dollar also advanced to a four-month high against the Swiss franc.
Against the yen, however, the dollar fell after the Bank of Japan kept its monetary policy unchanged.
While the decision was in line with most expectations, a few participants had been speculating the central bank could follow up with new easing steps after its monetary easing in April.
The dollar was down 0.7 percent versus the yen to 79.39 yen, with the Japanese currency recovering from falls on Tuesday after Fitch downgraded Japan's sovereign credit rating.
"Dollar/yen has been helped most by the rise in U.S. two-year government bond yields, which may well drift lower if euro zone problems intensify, which would no doubt drag dollar lower against the yen too," said Derek Halpenny, European head of global market research at Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi.
Forex Flash: EUR/CHF would hover over 1.2000 for some time – Danske Bank - NASDAQ
FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - Well…late price action of EUR/CHF is not precisely something we would like to write home about. In fact, the pair remains almost isolated from the rest of the markets, indifferent to almost any event jolting them, with the Swiss central bank being the only game-mover.
Two things have been recurrent however: deflation pressures in the Alpine economy and SNB rhetoric about defending the floor with utmost determination.
In words of K.Kirkegaard, Senior Analyst at Danske Bank, "…we expect EUR/CHF to range-trade slightly above 1.20 for the coming quarters. We do not expect to see more 'technical breaks' of 1.20".
In the expert's view, the likeliness of a change in the rules regarding the 1.20 floor are quite thin at the moment as "…Swiss franc selling should keep EUR/CHF stable above 1.20…" and the current account surplus in Switzerland is large enough to discard any weakness in the CHF in the very near term.
On the other hand, and according to Danske Bank models, the Swiss franc is 14% overvalued against the euro and the worsening conditions circling the euro zone would offset the increasing deflation figures, refraining the SNB to lift the peg.
Forex Flash: EUR/USD returns to 2012 lows - Commerzbank - FXStreet.com
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