Spain's troubled banks turn off credit tap

Palma.— Amid the turmoil of the latest phase of the eurozone financial crisis many Spanish banks have found a way to survive the drought of wholesale funding on which they relied in the past to finance their lending. But their solution – turning off credit taps even to solvent borrowers – smacks of desperation and has angered employers and threatens to tip the economy back into recession. “It is impossible for the banks to access the markets, as has been the case over the past couple of months,” said one senior commercial banker. “So the only way to generate liquidity is by reducing the commercial gap. This means a credit crunch.”