A fund which can make up to 99 billion euros ($148 billion) available to help Spanish banks merge and restructure is more than enough, the country´s economy minister said on Monday.

“The restructuring of the financial system is speeding up and I think the process will be completed in 2010. The funds in the FROB (restructuring fund) are more than sufficient for this,” Elena Salgado said at a conference in Madrid.

Spain´s 46 savings banks are undergoing a wide-ranging restructuring process, mainly through mergers, which is expected to cut their numbers by about half by the end of next year.

The largely unlisted savings banks, controlled by Spain's regional governments, have seen revenues decline and credit quality deteriorate rapidly over the last year due to their exposure to the country's ailing property sector.

Spain's financial sector must undergo reorganisation to enable the economy to emerge from recession, Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told the same conference organised by The Economist.

via UPDATE 1-Spain’s bank restructuring fund adequate-Salgado – Forbes.com.