Collapsed banks: Caja Madrid and Bankia
€2,34 millions in 2011 alone
Son of a banker, his father was Banco Seiro's president. His father and his uncle were imprisoned in 1967 on charge of capital flight to Switzerland.
Collapsed banks: Bancaja, Bank of Valencia and Bankia
€2.9 miliions
Mr. Olivas' career has been linked to politics and the Popular Party since he was 25 years old. Since then, he has accumulated a variety of political positions until he became President of the Valencian Autonomous Government (not by popular vote, just like the current President Fabra).
Collapsed banks: Bancaja, Bank of Valencia and Bankia
€409,000 only in 2011
Antonio Tirado, mayor of Castelló for PSOE from 1979 to 1987, became, after leaving his duty as mayor, the Caixa d'Estalvis de Castelló' CEO. Former Bancaixa and Bank of Valencia vicepresident, and Bankia and Banco Financiero y de Ahorros counselor. Nowadays he's still in charge of the Vice Presidency of Bancaja.
Collapsed banks: Bancaja, Bank of Valencia and Bankia
€14 millions
Aurelio Izquierdo came to Bancaja in 1988, at 27. In 2007 he became Bancaja's CEO. When Bancaja merged with Bankia, Izquierdo was named Business Director. When Parra was dismissed in October 2011 as Bank of Valencia's CEO, Izquierdo took his place until the intervention by the FROB in November 2011.
Collapsed banks: Bank of Valencia
€7 millions
Domingo Parra was Bank of Valencia's CEO from 1994 to October 2011, when he was dismissed and replaced by Aurelio Izquierdo. According to El Economista, Parra's management was characterized by a number of failing business operations, like purchasing former Socialist Spanish Minister Antoni Asunción's aquaculture, wich made a €11,8 million hole or the purchase of the Costa Bellver real estate, Eugenio Calabuig's property, Parra's friend and CEO of Aigües de València (Valencia's water supply company).
Collapsed banks: CAM
€10 millions
Mr. López Abad came to what was then the Caja de Ahorros del Sureste (successor to the CAM) in 1970. Later, in 1985, Mr. López Abad collegiated as an economist at Alicante. In 2001, Mr. López Abad became the CAM's CEO. During his mandate, the CAM were involved in 66 companies and 104 real estate proyects.
Collapsed banks: CAM
€7.89 millions
Mr. Crespo started in the automobile business in Elx and Orihuela. He is a very religious person and a close friend of Francisco Camps', the former President of Valencia Autonomous Government. Camps was prosecuted in a corruption case.
Collapsed banks: CAM
€10 millions
María Dolores Amorós began to work at CAM as an administratitve officer in 1982, when she was 20 years old. In just 10 years, with no university degree, Amorós was promoted to head offices and became Juan Antonio Gisbert's right hand.
Spain's public debt stood at 68.5% of the GDP at the end of 2011. Germany (81.2%), France (85.5%) and the United Kingdom (85.7%) all have a higher rate of public debt compared to the Spanish GDP. Spain's debt crisis is not a public one, but a private one. It exceeds 200% and has shot up over the last decade. Spain's debt crisis was caused by the housing bubble. Back then, 40% of all households in the EU were being built in Spain. Now, they are forcing us, the citizens, to pay for the casino economy of a few reckless gamblers by transforming private debt into public debt.
This is the total ammount of money given to banks so far:
+ the European bailout for Spanish banks
Every Spanish citizen has given 3,533 € to the banks
An entire working life (16 to 65) at minimum wage for 442,129 people
2,223 hospitals could be built
319 % out of the total spending on Education
Active employment policies could be multiplied by 21
A working year at minimum wage for
21,664,328 people
41,686 schools could be built
285 % out of the total public spending on Health Care
Investemnt on R&D could be multiplied by 19
More than twice times the amount of money destined to unemployment benefits in a year
A democray must be solidary with every person.
A democray must guarantee dignity and future for its people:
A family cannot pay for their mortage because they have lost their jobs and are being threathened with a foreclousure.
The State guarantees the family's mortage to the bank and leaves the house on social letting with a soft credit.
Likewise, the banks receive the security for the unpaid mortages. Moreover, they are guaranteed the payment, as the State becomes the guarantor.
However, losses coming from risk investments on the housing bubble or coming from promoting crazy macrourbanizations that nobody has bought are NOT covered. If the bank must fail from reckless management, so be it.
People's earnings should be bailed out, not the reckless gambling of the banks.
A public audit on debt must be carried out. It's necessary to know the truth about where the debt comes from, who should be held accountable, under which conditions and who is benefitting from the bail-outs.
The paying off of the public debt must be suspended until the audit is finished and it's clear which debt is legitimate and which is not.
We ought to prosecute those responsible for this fraud and require them to pay for what they have done. For example, it is immoral that the counsilors handpicked by the political parties to the banks' boards of directors leave with a compensation of millions of euros after the collapse of the banks that they were supposed to defend. Who compensates the citizens?
Valencia is the birthplace of mismanagement and the collapse of the financial system. Here, a set of factors took place, such as the high politicization of the bank's boards of directors, the lack of training of counselors and a huge exposure to the housing bubble as well as completely inefficient political projects.
The three main banks in Valencia have been intervened: Bancaja and CAM, which were the third and fourth biggest "cajas" in Spain, and the Bank of Valencia, which was in turn the jewel of the financing system of Valencia, with over 100 years and close ties to the bourgeoisie and the productive sectors in Valencia.
The first major "caja" to be intervened was CAM, by the Bank of Spain on July 22nd 2011 after a failed merger with the Banco Base led by Caja Astur. The Bank of Spain's auditors found hidden losses of €4.5 billions and toxic assets amounting to over €5 billions.
On 21st of November, the day after the General Election, Bank of Valencia was intervened by the Bank of Spain. It was the first bank to be intervened. 40% of Bank of was owned by a company controlled by Bancaja first, then by BFA, Bankia's matrix. It controlled the majority of the board, and named the CEO and the president (José Luis Olivas, also Bancaja's very own president). The auditors uncovered €887 million losses in 2011.
In December 2010, with the merger of Bancaja, Caja Madrid and other small "cajas", Banco Financiero y de Ahorros is created. In March 2011, all of its assets were tranferred to the parent entity and the commercial bank, Bankia, was presented. On 20 July 2011 Bankia has its IPO at a price of €3.75 a share. In May 2012, Bankia, the third largest Spanish bank, was intervened by the FROB and and nationalized. Rodrigo Rato and the bank's board of directors were fired. Shares of Bankia plummetted and the situation of the bank puts the whole Spanish economy in risk of a possible intervention by European institutions.
The collapse of these three major financial institutions has meant the loss of all Valencian financial autonomy, except in the symbolic case of Caixa Ontinyent. This loss will have very important consequences for future generations. In fact, today, together with the structural crisis of the Valencian economy, effects are already being noticed throughout the Valencian society. The lack of credit for businesses and professionals, the disappearance of social projects, the exponential increase in the number of foreclousures and a rate of 30% unemployment are just some of the most noticable results.
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