Vest Bow
The Land that Banks Forgot by Gregory Butcher
As first Greece, then Ireland and now Portugal deny, then bow to the markets and are forced to request an EU bailout, commentators inevitably fear that a domino effect is creeping through Europe and all eyes switch to the other Iberian economy that could hold the future of the eurozone in its grasp, Spain.
Fairhomes, a private property holding group based in Gibraltar, who daily watch the Spanish market, remind us that much attention has rightly been given to the role that property debts held by the banks have in the crisis. The unfolding property bust continues to hog the headlines with the Bank of Spain declaring that 15 billion euro will have to be found to meet new capital requirements set by the Bank of Spain. Other commentators, meanwhile, such as Moodys calculate that figure to be nearer 50 billion euro whilst Fitch calculated that this could even rise to nearer 120 billion euro. If the higher of these figures is valid, then Spain will be lining up behind Portugal?
Fairhomes report that one element that could prove crucial to the outcome is only now becoming apparent after requests from the Bank of Spain for details of lender
