Minister for the economy says bank restructuring fund is adequate

MADRID
A fund which can make up to 99 billion euros available to help Spanish banks merge and restructure is more than enough, the country's economy minister said yesterday. “The restructuring of the financial system is speeding up and I think the process will be completed in 2010. The funds in the FROB (restructuring fund) are more than sufficient for this,” Elena Salgado said at a conference in Madrid.

Spain's 46 savings banks are undergoing a wide-ranging restructuring process, mainly through mergers, which is expected to cut their numbers by about half by the end of next year.