What’s all this about the “black credit cards” of Caja Madrid?

It’s almost as exciting as the Ebola scare – all of Spain is following with rapt interest the revelations that Caja Madrid was giving out black credit cards to politicians and board members, allowing them to spend vast amounts of the banks money. The “tarjetas B” as they’re called, were credit cards that weren’t linked to any particular account, but instead siphoned money out of the banks central reserve. The bank fooled auditors by sucking Continue reading What’s all this about the “black credit cards” of Caja Madrid?

Bankia goes bust (quick, get your cash out) and another 4,5 billion of public cash is counted out

Bankia, the new Spanish bank made out of a shotgun wedding of no fewer than seven failed Spanish caja de ahorros, and the bank with the largest exposure to real estate debt in the country (37,500 million euros), has seen its share price sink through the floor after it was leaked that Bankia is bankrupt. Expansion, the financial paper, tells us this morning that emergency talks between Madrid and the Bank of Spain are culminating Continue reading Bankia goes bust (quick, get your cash out) and another 4,5 billion of public cash is counted out