Spain bad loans ratio down due to savings banks

 

Savings banks were responsible for a small fall in the bad loans ratio for Spanish financial institutions in September, Bank of Spain data showed on Thursday.

The level of unpaid credit as a ratio of total lending by Spain's financial sector - including banks, financial cooperatives and retail credit cards - fell to 5.49 percent in September from 5.615 percent in August.

The level of unpaid debts has been rising steadily in Spain since the beginning of the global financial crisis, which burst a decade-old property bubble and has left over 4 million out of work.

Bad debts fell by 1.313 billion euros to 101.263 billion in September, the central bank said.

The country's savings banks, which are immersed in a government-driven consolidation process, saw their bad loans ratio drop to 5.34 percent in September from 5.69 percent in August.

Banks saw their ratio increase to 5.58 percent from 5.49 percent.