100 billion euros of problematic loans and owns buildings and sites that they have seized and whose value has plummeted.

Spain's economy plunged into recession in late 2008 when the bubble burst on the real estate market. It only emerged last year with meagre growth.
And the banking sector, which had been handing out mortgages with abandon, now has more than
These are "the bodies in the cupboard," said the business daily El Economista on Friday.
"There is no reference price, it's very subjective: everyone thinks that the price of real estate will slump 20-30 percent, but it is very difficult to show," said the broker.
Said Raj Badiani, an analyst at IHS Global Insight: "It remains difficult to quantify the banks' capitalisation needs with confidence given the inability to calculate accurately the actual fall in property prices since they peaked in early 2008."
In a sign that analysts give little credibility to the estimates of the Spanish authorities, Moody's on Thursday morning downgraded the country's credit rating without waiting for the official estimate from the Bank of Spain later in the day.
But Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero defended the central bank's figure as "reasonable, acceptable."
"I respect all (ratings) agencies but my confidence, as prime minister, is on the side of the Bank of Spain," he said.

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