Spain banks bad loans rise to 14-year high in Feb

Spanish banks' bad loans rose by nearly 2 billion euros to a fourteen-year high in February as crisis-hit borrowers struggled to service debts, data from the Bank of Spain showed on Monday.

Non-performing loans (NPL) rose to 5.3 % of total non- credit card debt at Spains' banks and financial institutions in February, from 5.2% in January, while total lending increased slightly to 1.76 trillion euros.

NPLs were the highest among Spain's regionally-focused savings banks - most exposed to the country's ongoing property crisis - where bad debt rose to 5.43% of total non- credit card lending in February from 5.34% in January. ($1=.7153 Euro)