Business View

The risk premium of Spain, which measures the spread between ten-year Spanish bond and the German the same period, now lost almost 20 basis points so far this session and fell to 520, after the Spanish bond yield fell below 6.5%.

At 13.30 hours, the Spanish bond yields fell to ten years to 6.481% from the previous 6.67%, while the Germanic bond remained unchanged at 1.275%.

The sovereign debt market in the euro area lived quieter day today after yesterday’s equivocation about the attitude of the European Central Bank (ECB) for the nationalization of Bankia and uncertainty about the permanence of Greece in the currency should place the risk single European country of Spain at historic highs.

The council president, Mario Draghi, cooled market expectations today to reiterate that no act in the crisis of Bankia, but pointed out the possibility of using the European rescue fund (European Stability Mechanism MEDE) to recapitalize Spanish banks .

Also the risk premium in Italy, very concerned in recent days by the distrust of European sovereign debt market, would relax at this hour, to 456 basis points, with the performance of his ten-year bond at 5.835%.

The spokesman for Economic and Monetary Affairs of the European Commission, Amadeu Altafaj, said today that the agency is waiting for the Spanish Government to communicate the restructuring plan and the options Bankia provides for “restructuring and if necessary recapitalize “the entity.

In an interview on National Radio, Altafaj added that the Commission approve the plan “if it meets all requirements in terms of public support.”

The EU spokesman said that “there is rescue mechanism” but “go to negotiate a rescue of the economy”, although “very focused on a particular sector.”

Also, Altafaj insisted that the current European rescue fund can not recapitalize Spanish banks or any other country directly, bypassing governments, as was said yesterday by mistake.

What I pointed out the paper work of the Commission met yesterday was the possibility of changes in this regard in the future if there is greater EU banking union, although he moved that “it’s complicated” decision-making entity so many countries.

According Altafaj, the Spanish government should not “resign” to rescue the financial sector, but continue to show determination to undertake the necessary reforms “if possible with market mechanisms.”

When asked if the Spanish government is doing something right, since you can not restore market confidence, Altafaj said that “things are doing and that is the first” as though there were suspicions about the weaknesses of our bench, had not acted so far.

“The first thing is to know the extent of the weaknesses of the Spanish banking system and banks in particular, in order to dispel the doubts and make the bench again to serve the real economy, which is what Spain needs,” said .

Spain has a problem and SMEs and their families have great difficulty in accessing credit, which is like gasoline in a productive economy and not speculative, “which was predominant in the past and caused some imbalances that now we are paying, but not only in Spain.

“We want to mobilize private investment, which has access to credit and banking to handle your weaknesses to gradually restore market confidence and revive the economy,” said Altafaj.

Telefónica has lost 830,076 mobile customers from early December to late March, of which 337,700 were in the third month of the year when it stopped subsidizing mobile phones, according to the report of the CMT.

The report of the Commission’s Telecommunications Market on the March released today reveals that in March, Telefónica was the only operator that had loss of mobile customers, which made the 162,124 fall in total fleet.

The CMT also reports that Telefónica has announced a downward revision of the figures reported in December, January and February, reflecting a drop of 592,378 mobile lines in the three months compared to the previously announced 154,690.

Telefonica said sources told that the report data are affected by the decline of two million mobile lines (1.2 million prepaid and 0.8 million contract) that the operator held in the month of January as part of ” more selective criteria “of activity you are applying.

In March MVNOs (using the network of the network entities) gained 111,580 customers, Vodafone, 28,610 customers, Orange, 29520, and won 5870 Telstra customers.

Within these data, the market for portable or hand ported number portability 435,461 recorded in March and Telefonica was the only operator had a net loss of customers, with 118,348, while Vodafone won 3,589 customers, Orange , 52,200, Telstra, 22,772, and the virtual, 39,787.

Telefónica held in late March, a mobile market share of 39.13%, 0.49 points less than in the previous month 28.57 Vodafone, Orange of 20.33, Telstra and operators of 5.41 Virtual mobile 7.05%.

As for fixed lines, recorded a decline of 54,135, of which 39,602 were 14,533 businesses and residential. So far this year the park has dropped landlines in 102,999.

The broadband lines rose by 14,453 and stands out among them the rise 13,514 fiber optic technology that collects and 85,175 FTTH lines. The park of broadband in Spain is 11,233,109 lines.

The European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi, has again today refused to intervene in markets to stem the decline of the euro and the rise in risk premiums vulnerable asked Spain, but has called for a “union bank” with a deposit guarantee fund and resolution.

Draghi has appeared in his capacity as president of the European Systemic Risk Board before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, to present the annual report of the entity, while question time has been dominated by the restructuring of Bankia and the risk premium.

Draghi has avoided ruling directly on whether the ECB should intervene again to alleviate the situation of the risk premium in Spain, this morning levels up to 540 points, when asked, among others, the Spanish MEP Pablo Zalba (PP) , but has hinted that he will not.

“What else can you do when the markets do not appreciate the government’s ambitious reforms?”, Has challenged the popular Spanish MEP President of the ECB.

Draghi was the ECB’s unmarked void of inaction, for which responsibility has shifted to national governments who lack, he says, “to clarify his views on the future of the euro”.

“Can the ECB to fill the void left by the lack of governance in the euro area?” Stressed the president of the monetary authority has responded “no” below.

ECB President noted that after the crisis the perception of systemic risk in banking “has changed substantially” because “the levels of leverage than four years ago are considered plausible now are not.”

In this sense he called “doing what was established in 1988 with the monetary union and redialed a common goal and conditions ex ante (before the event).”

For Draghi, “some governments are swimming upstream to cross a river whose other banks do not see through the thick fog.”

A measure which, he said, “clarify the horizon” is “a monetary union with a system of guarantees and deposits, a resolution fund for banks in distress and better centralization of banking supervision.”

That settlement fund for banks “in difficulties” would aim to “ensure the operations of banks once broken the state.”

According to the ECB president, “when you have to treat the suspension of bank must be transparent.”

Draghi deplored the actions of governments in the restructuring of banks since the start of the crisis regarding the questions of several MEPs on the management of the crisis Bankia.

“Cases like Bankia show that we are facing recapitalization needs. It is better to err on by default,” said Draghi, who added that in the case of injections of public money to banks since the beginning of the crisis “all countries have ended up doing things the hard way and the highest cost imaginable.”

The President of the European Central Bank (ECB), Mario Draghi, said today that should be applied “credible mechanisms” for the restructuring and recapitalization of the banks and create adjustment plans capable of restoring confidence in the strength of balance sheets entities.

In an appearance before the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, Draghi, who spoke in his capacity as president of the Risk Board (ESRB), admitted that has returned some volatility and uncertainty in markets, but not enough the level of instability November 2011.

“The financial system still faces the challenge of adjustment to address the imbalances accumulated in the past. Banks have made progress on some fronts, but more must be done” and the rest of the financial sector is important that reforms designed to improve their resistance to the EU level and national level are fully implemented, he said.

Draghi bank recommended that the adjustment is made in an “orderly” in order to fully support growth without exacerbating the fragility of markets and jeopardize the position of others in the financial system.

Plans also called for adjustment or restructuring of the banking sector in the years to have a powerful “enough to restore confidence in the strength of the balance sheets of banks.”

Some indicators show “some stabilization in overall financial conditions earlier this year, but recent turmoil reflects the uncertainty surrounding this forecast,” Draghi said.

Doubts about the soundness of the balance sheets of banks and the direct and indirect link between your accounts and vulnerability of sovereign debt, driving this volatility.

In this sense, Draghi said that in the EU “fundamental challenges remain” out of the crisis, such as limiting the spread between member states across the EU, to promote macro-economic strategy, combined with fiscal consolidation, growth and support necessary adjustments to boost competitiveness to address economic imbalances.

For this, a response “decisive and sustained is a prerequisite for the success of measures to ensure a more resilient financial system, capable of providing financial services needed to support economic activity on a sustainable basis,” said ECB President and of the ESRB.

From the point of view “macroprudential” These measures include the application of credible mechanisms for bank recapitalization and restructuring where necessary and improve the monitoring and resolution of banking in the EU, he said.

Here, again urged national authorities and EU to “act in unison and quickly, ambition and a total commitment to safeguarding financial stability.”

The FCC plans to charge group in the coming days about 1,500 million euros of debt that municipalities are payable to the company, today announced the company’s president, Falcones, in a press conference prior to the Shareholders.

The group’s president pointed out that currently FCC has claimed 650 million of this debt and that the objective is to allocate this capital to the “debt reduction”.

The amount to be received by FCC in the coming days is part of the nearly 6,700 million owed ​​to major government construction, which will start paying today, in the case of municipalities, while the regions they will from next month.

Thus, said the FCC chairman, the group achieved “halving the debt that was the beginning of the crisis”, leaving less than 3 times the EBITDA, EBITDA.

The Group’s net debt stood at the end of the first quarter to EUR 6.964 million.

“We’re not that far to get it,” he said, while announcing that debt reduction will be accompanied by the presentation of a company’s strategic plan 2013-2014 “to exit the crisis and already thinking about a change of cycle” .

The Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, today defended the rescue of Bankia arguing its size and its great weight in the sector and said the state will recover the investment of 19,000 million undertaken in the state.

The rescue of Bankia whole discussion today focused on the plenary session of Congress in a turbulent day in the markets where the risk premium soared to almost 540 basis points before the doubts generated by the restructuring of Spanish banks.

In addition, Bankia continued its collapse in the stock and early afternoon was down 4.13 percent to 1.09 euros, even though sometimes it was below one euro.

De Guindos used his participation in the control session the Government to launch loud and clear two messages: that the rescue of Bankia was urgent and necessary and that the status of this entity is not comparable to the rest of the sector.

“It must be crystal clear that Bankia is a specific case, not be extrapolated to the rest, because it has a real estate exposure than the rest, because its loan portfolio is of lower quality and because it is a systemic entity, because of its size “he said in his speech to the plenary.

Also justified the need to rescue the institution, because in the eyes of the markets was the great problem of Spanish banks.

“Cleaning up Bankia there is a substantial step to resolve the doubts about the Spanish financial system,” he added.

He further explained that it was necessary to rescue Bankia after recent events, as was the auditor’s refusal to sign the accounts, the reluctance of the Bank of Spain to his plans for sanitation and, above all, the resignation of president of the organization, Rodrigo Rato .

De Guindos made it clear that “the government will inject the necessary capital to ensure the viability” of Bankia, a move considered “essential for the viability of the sector and the safety of customers.”

In the eyes of the Government, when they made this investment, Bankia and will be a “public bank”, shortly after the conversion into shares of 4.465 million loan granted in 2010 and assumed its nationalization.

“Once you run this conversion, is an institution of the State and of the Spanish. Therefore, we are investing capital in a public bank, with intent to obtain profitability and recover funds.”

After this operation, he said, Bankia “will be one of the more solvent and sound and can take advantage of its growth potential and profitability.”

The European Commission (EC) today proposed that the European rescue fund to recapitalize banks directly, without having to go through government as now, and move towards a “union bank” in the eurozone.

“To break the link between banking and the rulers, direct recapitalization of the European Stability Mechanism (MEDE) should be provided,” the EU executive said in its report published its recommendations for the Eurozone.

The EC President Jose Manuel Durao Barroso, said at the press conference where he presented the document that “it is important to use all kinds of flexibility” and not just in terms of instruments available to the eurozone but also for the “speed of the reaction of the firewall.”

However, the direct recapitalization of banks would require legal changes in the operating agreement MEDE, so Barroso said that in any case the eurozone must be prepared to address and that while you must take steps that can be taken immediately .

The Commission says the crisis has slowed the process of financial integration and that may be necessary to “ambitious steps to accelerate and deepen integration fiscal”.

Barroso urged member countries to launch the process of further integration of economic and monetary union as a step “important for confidence in the future of Europe.”

According to the EU executive, even before the crisis was recognized that the model of the European Union (EU) border bank “was not stable under the current institutional framework”, in particular with regard to the supervision and management of banking crises .

This has damaged the monetary union, because of the close financial ties and links with sovereign debt.

“Closer integration between countries of the euro-on supervisory practices and structures in the plane of the border crisis management and burden-sharing to a union-bank would be important to the current structure of the union Economic and monetary policy, “says the European Commission.

Barroso said he would press for an ambitious timetable and a roadmap for achieving this integration as soon as possible.

This will also involve pooling of debt in the eurozone and the implementation of a common system of deposit guarantees.

The Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, Congress today said that the European Central Bank (ECB) has not rejected any plan to recapitalize Bankia, because the government “has not presented any plan” to the monetary authority.

In the control session the Government, the Minister was asked by Inmaculada Rodríguez Piñero, Secretary for Economy and Employment of the PSOE, the information published today in Financial Times, which said that the ECB has banned Spain pay debt the capital increase in BFA-Bankia.

The ECB has “not rejected” any plan, because the government has presented said De Guindos, Rodriguez Piñero who advised to “do more if the Government of Spain and less to the Financial Times.”

He also said that the State will recover all the capital to invest in BFA-Bankia whatever amount.

De Guindos explained, “government intervention” in Bankia, the third Spanish financial institution, “was necessary and justified” because “the accounts of 2011 did not bear the signature of the auditor” and “the resignation of President and appointment of new management team, “among other reasons.

Bankia “will be a public bank and will get back the amount invested” without question, the minister insisted.

Meanwhile, the Socialist deputy demanded the appearance of “all those responsible for managing Bankia of regulators and supervisors”, considering that you can not make that shot, close to 23,000 million euros, in the state “without knowing why and who is responsible.”

“Citizens are entitled to know what happened,” said Rodriguez Piñero, to what de Guindos said that “this minister has gone to the commission of Economy and will always, and not just to talk about Bankia but the whole system Spanish financial. “

The Spanish banking system will be reduced from 60 entities and only 10 will be “very powerful”, said today in Mexico, the president of BBVA, Francisco Gonzalez, who also explained the reasons for the sale of its pension business in Latin America.

“We will reach a very powerful financial system in Spain, which will rise from 60 institutions a year and a half to nearly ten entities of which two will be very large, including BBVA,” said the banker during the national meeting of directors of BBVA Bancomer.

In the meeting, which was attended by Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Mexican financial authorities, Gonzalez said that despite the crisis in Europe, BBVA maintains its strength and solidity with profits of 5,600 million dollars last year.

Gonzalez said that while delinquencies in the Spanish banking system has risen sharply in the BBVA the delinquency rate has stabilized at 4% and the coverage stood at 60% for the second consecutive year.

He added that as a result, the bank has been able to create extraordinary provisions required of the financial system by 4,000 million euros.

Gonzalez said that in the coming weeks should make decisions to rescue the banking system in Spain and to define how it will finance the rescue.

The Spanish banker also said that the recent announcement of the sale of the pension business in the region is due to a strategic decision to create value in the group and not due to what happens in Spain or Europe, or “needs capital. ”

He explained that when they invested in this sector, seeking to combine the administration of pensions to the banking business, but said it has not been combined and is “totally isolated from the banking business.” “We can not get any synergy,” he said.

He added, however, the pension management “is an investment that has gone very well” and have apparently offers “very important” to sell and put that capital in investment banking with better yields.

At the meeting, the directors of BBVA Bancomer had the opportunity to hear the presidential candidates of the New Alliance party (Honeycomb), Gabriel Quadri; Revolucionario Institucional (PRI), Enrique Peña and National Action (PAN), Josefina Vazquez Mota.

Candidates showed counselors offers its catalog of policies to solve the problems of the country with a view to the elections of July 1, in particular to ensure growth and employment, security from violence and overcoming the poverty that afflicts more than half of Mexicans.