Bad loans held by Spanish banks held steady at 5.39 per cent of total loans in May, central bank data showed today, just days ahead of results this week of stress tests for important European banks.
Bank of Spain figures showed a rise of €476 million in the total amount of bad loans versus April.
After including debt issued by credit cards and other fianancial institutions the bad debt ratio was steady at 5.5 per cent, although the total amount exceeded 100 billion euros.
Bad loans held by private banks inched up tp 5.42 per cent of the total in May from 5.40 per cent in April, while in savings banks - owned by local governments - the rate declined to 5.51 per cent from 5.52 per cent.
Many analysts have warned that results of stress tests due out on Friday for Spain's savings banks could be poor compared to other European banks, because many are heavily exposed to a property sector slump.
The director general of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks told ABC newspaper yesterday that he expected no nasty surprises.
However, he did did not rule out the possibility of a bank having to seek more capital from the Bank of Spain's restructuring fund FROB after the tests.
Reuters