Spanish saving banks: medio-chapuza

The bailout of Caja Castilla La Mancha (CCM) has been fraught from the start. The Bank of Spain intervened in the tiny savings bank in March after months of rumours and political bickering. Under the central bank’s tutelage, Cajastur, a smaller savings bank from Asturias has now taken over CCM – in a strikingly complex transaction. If efficiency were the only consideration, CCM would have been completely absorbed by a larger institution, for example La Caixa, the nation’s largest savings bank. ...