Zapatero meets with rival as speculators circle Spain

[Joanne98]

Source: Marketwatch

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- Spain's embattled Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was hard at work Wednesday trying to get speculators off the back of one of the euro-zone's weakest members.

Zapatero met with opposition leader Mariano Rajoy Brey, the first such gathering in 18 months, and said the government will work with its rivals to speed up bank restructuring and reform savings bank laws in three months, something critics such as the Bank of Spain and Moody's Investor Service have been calling for.

Unlike the bigger banks such as BBVA /quotes/comstock/13*!bbva/quotes/nls/bbva (BBVA 11.38, -0.42, -3.56%) /quotes/comstock/06x!cbbva (ES:BBVA 8.76, -0.33, -3.65%) and Santander /quotes/comstock/06x!csan (ES:SAN 8.40, -0.22, -2.50%) /quotes/comstock/13*!std/quotes/nls/std (STD 10.97, -0.17, -1.53%) , smaller ailing savings banks are viewed as vulnerable owing to property debts on their books.


Read more: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/zapatero-meets-with-rival-as-speculators-eye-spain-2010-05-05?reflink=MW_news_stmp