ich gehöre zwar nicht zur Spanienfraktion, es scheint aber zu stimmen...

alberich , Donnerstag, 21.02.2008, 07:22 (vor 6668 Tagen) @ Mephistopheles

Why Spanish Banks Seem Immune to the Subprime Virus

The subprime mortgage crisis in the United States has created problems in many economies around the world, including in Europe. Indeed, European banks have begun to reveal how the junk mortgage virus has infected their earnings results, which are beginning to show red ink for French, British, Swiss and German banks. Only the Spanish banks, which have done practically nothing that exposes their assets to junk mortgages, seem to be immune to the subprime contagion. Their way of doing of business, the rise of Spain’s domestic market and the vigilance of the Bank of Spain are key reasons why Spanish banks have kept out of danger.

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For his part, Guillén sees two key reasons why Spanish banks have been immune. “First of all, we’re talking about commercial banks where the investment banking divisions are relatively small. Second, as commercial banks, they have followed practices that are more cautious and rigorous when it comes to granting loans. If there are any problems in Spain, it will be because of the slowdown in the real estate sector, and the losses will be relatively limited. There have not been any large buyers of bonds whose value is guaranteed by mortgages.”

Mena points to two factors. “First, in some cases the Bank of Spain counseled [banks] against investing in products guaranteed by subprime assets, and in other cases, the Bank prohibited that kind of behavior. At the time, we didn’t realize the successful impact that [Bank of Spain] has had as the regulator of the Spanish banking sector.” Second, Mena notes that there has been a significant expansion of credit in Spain in recent years. This has enabled institutions to become large-scale issuers of bonds that are secured by mortgages traded on the market, in order to “issue all the liabilities that they have needed without having to go into other markets such as the United States.”

Quelle:
http://www.wharton.universia.net/index.cfm?fa=viewfeature&id=1470&language=english