Spain

Spain's deficit is down sharply thanks to an unpopular cocktail of tax hikes and austerity cuts - good news for a government fighting to ward off fears it might need a bailout like the one that saved Greece from bankruptcy, The Associated Press reported. Still, with a fifth of the work force out of a job and businesses struggling to survive, the spending cuts that are helping the budget are likely to keep any economic recovery subdued. The stock market's IBEX 35 index closed 3.51 percent up at the close of trading Wednesday.

Real Mallorca are considering their options after being told they have been denied entry into the Europa League after falling foul of UEFA's financial regulations, ESPN reported. Mallorca in May applied to go into voluntary administration after amassing debts thought to be in the region of €70 million.

Spanish banks' recourse to European Central Bank funding hit a record high in June, against a backdrop of intensifying turmoil on financial markets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Spanish banks raised €126.3 billion ($160.6 billion) in funding from the ECB in June, up 48% from €85.62 billion in May, according to data the Spanish central bank published on its website Wednesday. The June borrowings are the largest on Bank of Spain records dating back to 1999.

China, the world’s largest foreign exchange holder, bought several hundred million euros of Spanish bonds last week as Asian investors returned to the eurozone peripheral market after a two-month hiatus, the Financial Times reported. China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or Safe, which manages the reserves under the country’s central bank, was allocated up to €400m ($505m) of Spanish 10-year bonds in a debt deal last Tuesday, according to people familiar with the situation.

The Spanish government will approve Friday an overhaul of savings-bank regulations, opening the door to private ownership of the mutually owned savings banks or "cajas," Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero said Thursday, The Wall Street Journal reported. "This is the most important reform ever of our banking system," Mr. Zapatero said at a meeting with journalists. With close ties to local communities and often controlled by local governments, Spain's cajas have borne the brunt of the collapse of Spain's decade-long housing boom.

New Barcelona president Sandro Rosell has rubbished reports suggesting the Spanish giants face bankruptcy, though he did express concerns about the club's contract with financially stricken TV partner Mediapro, ESPN reported. Rosell's announcement on Barca's official website outlines plans to take out a €150 million loan to help pay staff and player wages, amid reports that Mediapro are in receivership and may not be able to honour a €1 billion TV rights deal that runs until 2013.

Spain's central bank Tuesday said the country's savings banks have completed a "historic" consolidation effort, with the help of EUR11 billion in public funds, a key step forward in its plans to clean up a sector reeling from the collapse of a decade-long housing boom, Dow Jones reported.

The European Commission Tuesday cleared Spanish aid for the restructuring of the local savings bank Caja Castilla-La Mancha, Dow Jones reported. "The commission is satisfied that Caja Castilla-La Mancha has been restructured in a way that limits distortions of competition and ensures the viability of the banking activities," said Joaquin Almunia, the commission's vice president in charge of competition.

Spanish banking giant Santander today confirmed its bid for more than 300 branches that are being sold off by part-nationalised Royal Bank of Scotland in Britain, Finfacts reported. The owner of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester and Bradford & Bingley is the sole bidder for the 318 branches which NatWest owner RBS is disposing on the instructions of the European Commission. The business being sold has about three million customers - - - two-thirds of which are small businesses - - and consists of RBS branches in England and Wales as well as its NatWest uniits in Scotland.

Spanish banks are borrowing record amounts from the European Central Bank as the country’s financial institutions struggle to gain funding from the international capital markets, the Financial Times reported. Spanish banks borrowed €85.6bn ($105.7bn) from the ECB last month. This was double the amount lent to them before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and 16.5 per cent of net eurozone loans offered by the central bank.