Is the EC pushing Spain towards a bailout?

[DCon]

Spain ready to jump?

They are keeping up the pretence that the sovereign do not need funding, just their banks (who are buying the sovereign debt).

The Spanish government is prepared to make a rescue request that would allow the European Central Bank to begin buying its debt, but the issue is being delayed by the needs of other countries in the single currency.

Madrid has now found a formula that it feels comfortable with to make a rescue request – a significant shift in position compared to before the summer – and is waiting for external factors, such as the way it would influence other countries such as Italy, to be resolved.

A senior official within the Spanish ministry of economy said Spain did not require any money from the European Stability Mechanism, the eurozone’s state rescue fund, but would be comfortable making a request for a credit line only in order to satisfy the conditions of the ECB to begin buying bonds.

Before this can happen, there would have to be agreement over timing with Spain’s European partners – breaking with market perceptions that one of the main reasons for a delay was the reluctance of the government of Mariano Rajoy to take the politically damaging step of requesting aid.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/94f299ec-1...#axzz29RnTWCrv

[MPB]

Spanish Banks are buying Spanish Govt bonds with cheap ECB money. The ECB cannot print money, so where is it getting all of this money?

Who has a vested interest in keeping European Banks afloat/

The FED.

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Ultimately, yes, because all roads do lead back to the US Federal printing press. The biggest German banks were lined up at the Fed Emergency window in 2008 same as all the rest of Europe's banks.

We wouldn't have even known about it except for a Congressional hearing on the banking crisis in which that news tumbled out.

Germany is, financially, an American colony after all and has been since world war II. Europe itself is a funded bulwark politically against the east- Russia and China and basically that is what the Marshall Plan was about.

German banks are every bit as dodgy as Irish ones. It amazes me how Merkel and co get away with labelling other states as 'feckless' when her own Landesbanken system and the German financial system is as rotten as anywhere in Europe and depends on the US Fed for the printed cover-up.

The IMF and ECB also lead back to the US Fed and its moneyprinting service. We aren't in an 'economy' as such but a phony war before reality invades this land of currency fiction. That is the only thing the Fed cannot control about our western world.

[DCon]

The Spanish NAMA is a true tribute to Brian Lenihan. Himself, Satan and Charles J Haughey will be having the craic tonight

And the details are as follows (from worst to first):

*BAD BANK SETS 79.5% DISCOUNT FOR FORECLOSED LAND
*BAD BANK SETS 67.6% DISCOUNT ON LOANS WITH NO REAL GUARANTEE
*BAD BANK SETS 63.2% DISCOUNT ON UNFINISHED DEVELOPMENTS
*BAD BANK SETS 33.8% DISCOUNT ON LOANS WITH REAL GUARANTEE
*BAD BANK SETS 56.6% DISCOUNT ON LOANS FOR OTHER LAND
*BAD BANK SETS 54.2% DISCOUNT ON FORECLOSED NEW HOMES
*BAD BANK SETS 53.6% DISCOUNT ON LOANS FOR URBAN LAND
*BAD BANK SETS 40.3% DISCOUNT ON LOANS FOR UNFINISHED WORKS
*BAD BANK SETS 32.4% DISCOUNT ON LOANS FOR FINISHED HOMES

they, of course, want the same off-balance sheet treatment NAMA was given

*RESTOY SAYS BAD BANK AIMS TO BE PROFITABLE
*SPAIN BAD BANK TO DISCOUNT LOANS AVG 46%; FORECLOSED ASSETS 63%
*SPAIN AIMS FOR BAD BANK NOT TO COUNT TOWARDS PUBLIC ACCOUNTS
*SPAIN TO DISCUSS BAD BANK WITH INVESTORS IN COMING DAYS
*SPAIN BAD BANK TO INCLUDE FORECLOSED ASSETS, LOANS, STAKES

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-1...olute-disaster

[PaddyJoe]

The Spanish NAMA is a true tribute to Brian Lenihan. Himself, Satan and Charles J Haughey will be having the craic tonight



they, of course, want the same off-balance sheet treatment NAMA was given




http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-1...olute-disaster

As I recall the Spanish actually brought Irish NAMA officials over to advise them during the planning phase.
Well, we do have an unsurpassed record in turning private debt into public debt in jig time.

[Dr. FIVE]

Are we calling it SPAMA?

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

Ole-Bama?

[DCon]

Obama

"What we have tried to do is to encourage all the countries in the region to get together to make sure that Spain, which is engaged in current reforms, is getting the support from other countries like Germany. Over the long term this would make all of Europe more prosperous.”

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2012/1...ed-says-obama/

[Captain Con O'Sullivan]

I see. So Germany is going to 'trickle down' wealth to the peripheral nations over time is it? With the US Fed printing 'trickle down' money for German banks some of whom at least are trading in bankruptcy when you see their leveraging?

There is a statue of a bull at the New York Stock Exchange. I think it has just done a dump via the White House.

[DCon]

uh oh

The European Central Bank (ECB) is checking whether it may have contravened its own strict rules by lending to Spanish banks on overly generous terms, an ECB spokeswoman said on Sunday.

German newspaper Die Welt am Sonntag, citing the results of its own research, said that banks had borrowed funds from the ECB and taken a haircut of 0.5 percent even though the creditworthiness of the Spanish T-bills they provided as collateral should have required the ECB to apply a haircut of 5.5 percent.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...8A309W20121104

the affected Spanish banks would have to produce up to EUR16.6bn in additional collateral (cash or quality collateral that is non-existent in Europe)

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-1...ateral-haircut

[Dr. FIVE]

well well

An investigation by Germany’s Welt am Sonntag newspaper claimed the ECB is applying a more lax standard to Spanish bank loan applications, allowing them borrow money at better terms than Irish lenders.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/...326142339.html

[DCon]

Pharmacies not being paid

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-1...e-indefinitely

[PaddyJoe]

Ollie Rehn about to make an unscheduled press statement on Spain. Just starting:
http://ec.europa.eu/avservices/ebs/live.cfm?page=1

[PaddyJoe]

Looks like Rehn is giving Spain a qualified pat on the back for deficit reduction. No further steps needed for 2012/2013. However, projections for 2014 fall short.

[DCon]

The EU are going to fund Spain's NAMA. Meanwhile, the Irish used their Pension Reserves..

Europe’s to pump Eur 35 bln into Spain’s state bank rescue fund in return for jobs cuts at 4 nationalised banks , including Bankia, which will be transferred to the banks a fortnight after the money arrives in the restructuring fund on Dec 15 according to El Pais.

http://www.forexlive.com/blog/2012/1...ree-greek-aid/