Basque premier backs savings banks merger

Basque Country President, Patxi López, speaking before parliament on Friday, spoke of the need to back "a plan of integration" of the three Basque savings banks in order to increase their "size and dimension" though he also specified that "it should be the banks themselves that, depending on their strategies and needs, determine the circumstances and timeframes of their respective activity."

The Basque President added that the Savings Banks "don''t present any financial problems" and, for that reason, "there is no immediate need in itself to carry out mergers or alliances in order to assure their survival".

Likewise, he recalled that there was some "significant" activity taking place in the Spanish savings bank systems which would produce a different outlook and set of circumstances in which the Basque banks "will have to play a complex game that will depend a lot on technique but also on strategic decisions".