Spanish Lenders May Need $120 Billion, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg

Spanish Lenders May Need $120 Billion, Moody’s Says - Bloomberg: "Spanish banks that helped spur the country’s property boom with mortgages and loans to developers may need as much as 90 billion euros ($120 billion) in capital, Moody’s Investors Service said.
That estimate is based on a scenario in which lenders would need a Tier 1 capital ratio, a measure of their financial strength, of as much as 12 percent to tap funding, Moody’s said in a statement. Spanish banks declined today, led by Banco Santander SA, the country’s biggest.
“Given the situation after Ireland where the banks will have to be recapitalized to a much higher capital level, to a core Tier 1 ratio of 12 percent, we ran stress tests to see what that would mean in the context of Spain, if Spanish banks had to be recapitalized to a higher level in order to retain market confidence,” Kathrin Muehlbronner, an analyst at Moody’s, said in a phone interview."

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