Banesto Cancels Fourth Interim Dividend After Real-Estate Charge
February 08, 2012, 9:48 AM ESTBy Manuel Baigorri and Charles Penty
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Banco Espanol de Credito SA, a Spanish consumer banking unit of Banco Santander SA, canceled its final dividend of the year, citing a charge for bad real- estate loans taken earlier this month.
Banesto, as the bank is known, won’t be able to propose a fourth interim dividend at the next shareholders’ meeting, according to a spokesman who declined to be named, citing company policy. Earlier today, a statement from the lender said it would pay a total of 123.7 million euros ($163 million) for the first three quarterly dividends, including the upcoming Feb. 1 payment.
The bank said on Jan. 12 that it took a 280-million-euro charge to account for Spain’s deteriorating property market. Banesto is scaling back lending and setting aside funds to cover damaged assets as Spain’s government pressures banks to clean up their balance sheets.
--Editors: Keith Campbell, Steve Bailey
To contact the reporter on this story: Manuel Baigorri in Madrid at mbaigorri@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
