It had been a long time coming, everyone was aware, though nobody wanted it, but the day is now here. Spanish income tax (IVA) will rise from 1st July to 18%, raising the price on most everyday products and services.
This is a rough breakdown of how some of the tax increases may affect you…
The 4% [...]

Four Spanish savings banks have announced plans to merge amid concerns over solvency in the sector.
Cajastur, Caja de Ahorros del Mediterraneo, Caja Extremadura and Caja Cantabria said they had reached an agreement to form a group that would “strengthen solvency and assets of the participating banks.”
The move announced late yesterday came after the Bank of [...]

Shares in Spanish banks fell on Monday following the government bail-out of one lender over the weekend.
Shares in Santander were down 1.25%, while lenders BBVA and Banco Popular were also down 2% and 1.3% respectively.
On Saturday Spanish bank Cajasur – one of Spain's largest regional lenders – was taken over by Spanish authorities after running [...]

The Bank of Spain said today it had taken over the running of Spanish savings bank CajaSur after its planned merger with another of the country's small lenders failed.
CajaSur will now have access to the Fund for Orderly Bank Restructuring (FROB), the Bank of Spain said in a statement.
“This action, which we have taken as [...]

Spain will raise taxes for high-income earners to help chip away at the country´s outsized deficit, the prime minister said Wednesday.
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said most Spaniards agree with him that a special effort can be expected from those better off as the government enacts austerity measures like cutting the salaries of civil servants and [...]

The euro traded near four-year lows Monday amid warnings from European leaders that their $1 trillion loan backstop for troubled governments would not be enough to defuse the continent’s crisis over high levels of government debt.
The euro was trading 0.1 percent lower on the day at $1.2334 as finance ministers from the EU gather in [...]

National Australia Bank (NAB) has held talks with Spain’s BBVA about creating a joint venture in Britain.
The two banking giants are among the frontrunners to buy a £1.5 billion network of 300 branches being sold by Royal Bank of Scotland.
NAB, which owns Clydesdale and Yorkshire banks in the UK, has approached BBVA with a plan [...]

Telefónica was hit to the tune of 38 million euro in the first quarter as it recognized Spain’s TV tax for the first time.
The tax was imposed in 2009 as part of a package of measures following the phasing out of advertising on the public broadcaster TVE. A 0.9% tax was imposed on telecommunications services [...]