Word: argentaria
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...traded real estate developer in Europe, and the country's biggest banks are reaching out, too. "We haven't seen the end of the expansion of Spanish banks into the rest of Europe," says Herce, citing the Santander Group's 2004 purchase of Abbey National and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria's continued search for acquisitions. "They've learned how to collateralize loans, as well as the ins and outs of personal retail banking, and they've gotten very good at it." But what's good for developers and bankers isn't necessarily good for consumers, or for the Spanish economy...
...banks are suddenly under assault from European rivals. ABN Amro of the Netherlands is expected to announce a bid for Banca Antoniana Popolare Veneta, Italy's ninth-largest bank, as early as this week. That follows this month's €6.5 billion bid by Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria for the 85% of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro it doesn't already own. The moves amount to an earthquake for Italian banks, which are all firmly in Italian hands and have until now been able to count on the Bank of Italy to protect them from foreign takeovers...
...Giavazzi says, Santander's move in Britain demonstrates how many barriers remain to such transnational deals. Santander had already been blocked from taking over France's Société Générale in 1999 because the bid came from abroad. When Spain's Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria tried to merge with Italy's UniCredito Italiano the same year, Italy's regulator, too, balked at the idea of an Italian bank falling into foreign hands. In Abbey's case, U.K. competition regulations may have given Santander the edge...
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