All eyes on debt details in Spanish banks' results
Thursday, January 13, 2011 @ 2:41 PM
MADRID, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Investors will focus on the detailed breakdown of Spanish banks' exposure to real estate debt due to appear on full-year results, in the hope it will clarify the health of the country's financial system.
The Bank of Spain has demanded the nation's banks publish construction and mortgage debt exposure, their loan-to-value ratios and provisions to cover potential bad loans in full-year results, the first of which are due out on Thursday.
The level of bad loans related to real estate on banks' books, especially those of the unlisted savings banks which account for around half the banking sector, have helped fuel concerns over the stability of Spain's financial system. "Additional visibility and clarity is going to be very well received," said Arturo de Frias, analyst at Evolution Securities.
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