WORLD
Debt crisis: Spain to overhaul banking sector as Bankia cuts 6,000 jobs
Baku, January 17 (AZERTAC). Spain is to overhaul its stricken banking sector after European Union regulators approved restructuring plans, as nationalised Bankia said that it would cut 6,000 jobs and report a loss of around €19bn this year.
Bankia, Spain’s second largest savings bank, will receive a further €17.9bn on top of the emergency €23.5bn of state-aid pumped into the entity earlier this year to stave off its collapse. Photo: Reuters
Bankia, whose shares were suspended from trading on Wednesday by regulators, said that it would cut 6,000 jobs, or around 28pc of its staff, by 2015 as it tried to stem losses.
The bank said it intended to return to profit in 2013, but warned that it expected to report a loss of €19bn this year. Bankia will also close 1,100 branches as part of the restructuring.
Earlier, the European Commission approved restructuring plans for four of Spain’s nationalised banks, authorising a cash injection of almost €40bn (£32bn) from a fund secured by Eurozone partners.
The European Commission said the restructuring of the banks "will allow them to become viable in the long-term without continued state support" while the plans contain provisions to limit the distortions to competition.
The four stricken banks - Bankia, Novagalicia Banco, Catalunya Banc and Banco de Valencia - will receive combined recapitalisation of €36.9bn from a €100bn emergency fund secured by eurozone partners in June.