Directors of seven rescued cajas paid 80 Mln Euros

 

Seven of the Spanish 'Cajas' - regional savings banks - that were bailed out with injections of public money from the Bank of Spain earlier this year have made payments to their directors of almost 80 million euros, according to a report by Spanish daily newspaper 'Expansion'.

The payments are understood to be just for their basic salaries - before bonuses.

The seven banks received cash injections from the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB) in order to meet required levels of capital for the latest round of EU bank stress tests.

The former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Rodrigo Rato, was the highest paid at 2.34 million euros as chairman of Bankia SA, the newspaper said, citing a report by the Bank of Spain. Any bonus that Rato or the other executives earn on top of their salaries must be approved by the central bank, the Expansion reported.

The lenders have received more than 17 billion euros of financing from the country's rescue fund, Expansion said.