With Spain experiencing its deepest recession in 60 years, its banking sector stands at a crossroads. On the one hand, the largest Spanish banks are witnessing a drop in profits. Loans by cajas to real estate developers rose from E36 billion in 2001 to E243 billion in 2008. Compounding the problem is Spain's 18% unemployment rate, which has boosted non-performing loan ratios (NPL). UBS predicts Spanish unemployment could soar to 25%. While May's NPL ratio for the banking system was 4.56%, for cajas it was a higher 5.2% and mounting. So far only one bank, Caja Castilla La Mancha, was bailed out, in March, after failing to complete a merger with Unicaja, a Malaga-based savings bank. To avoid a similar fate, several cajas have initiated merger talks. Caja Jaen plans to merge with rival Uni...
...Cajasol, based in Seville, will not consider a merger with...