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• Ireland's ailing banks expected to unveil black hole of €25bn
• Spain's regional savings banks need to raise €15bn
The pressure on Portugal to succumb to an EU bailout intensified ahead of a week when Spain and Ireland's troubled banking systems will face fresh scrutiny.
European Central Bank governing council member Ewald Nowotny said it made sense for Portugal to turn to the EU for financial aid: "From a purely economic point of view one could probably recommend it. The domestic political situation in Portugal has clearly worsened … the head of the government has stepped down," he said in an interview with Austrian broadcaster ORF.
Last week Portugal's prime minister José Sócrates resigned after his minority Socialist government failed to get its latest round of austerity measures through parliament. The country must refinance €4.5bn (£3.9bn) of debt in April and is now expected to be the next domino in the eurozone to fall, following in the footsteps of Ireland and Greece. Jean-Claude Juncker, the chairman of Eurogroup, said he thinks Portugal would need an aid package worth €75bn.
The after shocks of the financial crisis continue to reverberate throughout Europe with Spain and Ireland's bombed out banking systems in the dock this week.
Monday is the deadline for Spain's regional savings banks or "cajas" to tell the Bank of Spain how they will boost capital reserves to meet the new minimum levels set by the government.
As in Portugal, the Spanish government is desperately trying to avoid an international bailout and has ordered the unlisted cajas to get private capital on board by either stock market listings or through equity investment – otherwise they will face nationalisation.
The large international operations of Spain's big listed banks enabled them to ride out crisis but the cajas were hard hit when the Spanish property bubble burst in 2007. The Bank of Spain says the cajas need to raise €15bn but independent analysts and credit rating agencies think the actual figure is far higher – possibly up to €100bn.
The Spanish savings bank association has been touring Asia and the Middle East in search of investments from private investors such as oil-rich sovereign wealth funds, but it is understood the roadshow has been met with little enthusiasm.
In Ireland, which agreed a €85bn bail out last year, the new government, elected in February, has come out fighting, insisting bondholders should share the financial pain associated with the costly taxpayer funded rescue of its banking system.
The results of fresh stress tests on Ireland's four main banks are due to be published on Thursday with analysts expecting them to show a capital hole of about €25bn.
"A sustainable and comprehensive solution for Irish banking that involves recapitalisation but also involves an element of burden-sharing … that is certainly the outcome that the government is looking for," said Simon Coveney, the minister for agriculture, in an interview with its state broadcaster RTE.
Under the terms of bailout agreed late last year Ireland can impose losses on banks' junior debt, but the European Central Bank (ECB) is opposed to treating senior bondholders, which are ranked on a par with depositors, in the same fashion for fear of a contagion risk.
But Ireland's new government, which was elected in February, says the state cannot afford to honour the conditions of the original deal and European finance ministers will decide on what sort of concessions they can offer Dublin in coming weeks.
Dublin wants to impose losses on senior bondholders in nationalised lenders Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide, which currently amount to more than €16bn, as part of a new bailout deal.