Spanish banks tap ECB for record €130bn in funding

Cajasur: one of banks that failed stress test

Spain’s banks borrowed a record €130.2 billion ($166.9 billion) from the European Central Bank in July, up 3% for the month.

The sum is the largest lent to Spanish banks by the Eurozone’s central bank since its establishment in 1999. The spike in lending follows the results of stress tests that showed five Spanish banks would be left with tier 1 capital ratios of less than 6% under an adverse macroeconomic scenario – the criterion for passing.

The stress tests published on July 23 revealed that