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Madrid - Spain formally requested a rescue loan of up to
€100bn from its eurozone partners in a letter released Monday.
No new figures were included in the letter, after reports by
independent consultants last week said stricken Spanish banks could need up to
€62bn to survive a severe, three-year financial slump.
Spain's government viewed the loan offer from its partners
"very favourably," Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said in a letter
addressed to Eurogroup head Jean-Claude Juncker.
De Guindos said Spain's authorities would offer "all
their help" in deciding the loan's eligibility criteria, conditions,
required measures and contract definition.
The aim was to finalise a memorandum of understanding in
time for it to be discussed at a July 9 meeting of the Eurogroup, which groups
the 17 eurozone finance and economy ministers.
Spain's economy minister confirmed in the letter that the
money would be funnelled to needy banks through the state-backed Fund for
Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB).
De Guindos said the ministers should use as a "starting
point" an IMF report on Spain's banks, alongside the findings of
international consultants Roland Berger of Germany and Oliver Wyman of the
United States.
Their audits tested 14 top banking groups in a likely
"baseline" scenario and a "stressed" outcome of a slumping
economy and real estate sector.
They found that in a stressed scenario lasting three years,
the banks would need €51bn - €62bn in extra capital.
In a baseline case they would need just €16bn - €26bn.
