BRITISH BANKING RUMOURS IN SPAIN

SPANISH bank Banco Zaragozano has insisted no takeover talks are going on with Barclays, but stock market analysts say speculation will persist. An unsourced report in Friday's Financial Times said takeover talks between the two banks were at an advanced stage, and Spanish financial newspaper Expansion said earlier this week Barclays was on the brink of closing a deal with Zaragozano, whose current market value is almost 1 billion euros. “There isn't anything, advanced talks or preliminary, we maintain what we said in our note on March 12. Nothing has changed,” a Zaragozano spokesman said. Barclays, which has confessed its interest in expanding in Spain by taking over a medium–sized bank, is the most likely buyer but there could be others, analysts said.