BANKIA MAY NEED UP TO €10 BILLION IN EXTRA CAPITAL - Spanish lender Bankia will require up to €10 billion of additional capital according to reports this morning. Spain yesterday confirmed that one of the largest banks in the country would require state money to shore it up against property-related losses.
Professor Joe Haslam of the IE business school in Madrid says that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy had previously stated that no public money would be used to rescue the banks. But he has made an absolute u-turn and said that Bankia could require up to €10 billion of public funds to keep it from going under. However, the two biggest banks in Spain - Santander and BBVA - should not require bail-out funds as they have less exposure to Spain and have diversified elsewhere. The professor points out that Santander now makes most of its money in Brazil. And BBVA has said that it is not a risky bank with its chief executive saying that ''he likes to sleep at night''. However, Professor Haslam says that smaller Spanish banks may also have to turn the Government for help in the near future.
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MAGNET SET FOR OLYMPIC GOLD - Irish telecoms company Magnet is going to Wembley or, at least, its fibre and its internet and television services will be. Under a deal with UK company Quintain, Magnet will provide those services to Wembley City - a key site for the upcoming London Olympics.
Mark Kellett, chief executive of Magnet, says the deal is the largest fibre optic deployment in the UK and Ireland. The deal will also have positive spin-off impact on Dublin, as the city will be used as a hub for the project's shared services. He says the market in Ireland is not regulated strongly enough, but that it is a more regulated space in the UK and elsewhere.
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MORNING BRIEFS - Andrew Moss, the chief executive of insurer Aviva, has stepped down. The move follows last week's shareholder at the company's AGM against executive pay at Aviva.
*** NAMA will today launch its deferred property scheme, originally mooted last year but delayed until now. The scheme will allow home buyers to purchase a NAMA property and effectively write off up to 20% of the loan if the value of the house falls by that amount the first five years of the mortgage.
*** The euro dropped below $1.30 for the first time since January yesterday as European election results in France and Germany cast a shadow over markets.
