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After talks between the euro working group officials at director of Treasury level, the eurogroup of the single currency's 17 finance ministers will hold another conference call before making a statement.

According to reports, the finance ministers will meet around lunchtime today.

The amount will not be discussed, said EU sources who indicated that the final deal is unlikely to be agreed until the June 21 meeting of eurogroup of finance ministers in Luxembourg. Negotiations will focus on the terms and conditions of the aid from the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) as Spain resists a full scale EU-IMF bailout programme such as those in Portugal, Ireland or Greece.

However, they will be guided by an International Monetary Fund report published late on Friday saying while Spain's largest banks had enough capital to withstand further deterioration, several banks would need to increase capital buffers by at least €40bn, adding it could be more with restructuring costs and reclassification of loans. The report had been expected on Monday.

Ceyla Pazarbasioglu, Deputy Director of the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets Department, said: “Going forward, it will be critical to communicate clearly the strategy for providing a credible backstop for capital shortfalls — a backstop that experience shows it is better to overestimate than underestimate."

Fitch, which cut Spain’s credit rating by three notches on Thursday, estimates the country's banks will need up to €100bn, while JP Morgan said the full requirement could be as much as €350bn.

Vitor Constancio, vice president of the ECB, said: “It is expected that Spain will make a request for assistance, exclusively for bank recapitalisation ... Spanish banks have recapitalisation needs, therefore a solution must be found quickly to calm the markets.”

The euro's existing EFSF bailout fund allows bailouts to be used for banks without a full austerity programme administered by the EU-IMF's troika, dubbed the "men in black" by Spanish ministers.

While Spain, which is regarded by the EU as on track with its economic policies, will escape an unpopular and intrusive troika programme it will not escape having the EU aid added to its national balance sheet, compounding its fiscal problems.

Yesterday, US President Barack Obama demanded European leaders act “right now” in an impatient and forceful message. He said there was “a path out of the crisis” if only leaders would take the “decisive actions” needed.

While official in Madrid, Berlin and Brussels officials played down talk of a rescue plan for Spanish banks this weekend, Mr Obama added credence to the reports.

“The focus must be on strengthening the banks, like we did in 2008,” he said. “EU leaders are in discussions about that and they are going in the right direction.”