Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo

The Caja Mediterráneo Caja de Ahorros del Mediterráneo or, abbreviated CAM, is a Spanish savings bank based in Alicante on the Costa Blanca. It originated from the merger of stages have 29 financial institutions, whose first was founded in 1875 in Alcoy. She is one of three savings banks in the province of Valencia. The CAM has 963 branches, of which 954 stores are located in Spain. 7,600 employees serve 3.3 million bank customers. Abroad, the CAM is represented with 9 branches in Switzerland, China, Poland, the UK, Morocco, Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Miami.

The CAM is - like other savings banks in Spain too - get into financial difficulties due to the crisis in the Spanish real estate market. The CAM has recorded a loan loss ratio of around 9.0 percent for 2011.

Current crisis

In May 2010, the merger of CAM with three other savings banks ( Cajastur, Caja Cantabria and Caja Extremadura ) has agreed to become the third largest savings bank in Spain. The new composite - with total assets of 130 billion euros - should be led by the CAM. He should be called Banco Base. The negotiations failed, however, in March 2011, because of doubts about the solvency of CAM. The agreement for the merger was terminated by the other savings banks. The risks arising from the strong commitment of the CAM in the real estate sector seemed the other savings banks not calculable. The CAM has then end of March 2011 submitted an application for state aid in the amount of 2.8 billion from the Spanish bank bailout fund (so-called Frob funds). You can not meet the requirements of the Banco de España for an equity ratio of at least 10 percent. On July 22, 2011 FROB took control of the Institute. After CAM had accumulated in the first nine months of the year losses in the amount of EUR 1.73 billion, eventually took over on December 7, 2011 Banco Sabadell CAM for 1 Euro. FROB supported this merger with a guarantee of up to 80 % of the losses from the real estate portfolio of CAM. The new bank is the fifth largest bank in the country.

History

The Savings Bank received its present name in 1988. Till then they called Caja de Ahorros de Alicante y Murcia, which translated means " Savings Bank of Alicante and Murcia ." After that, they still united with the Caja de Ahorros Provincial de Alicante y Valencia (1990) and Caja de Ahorros de the Torrent ( 1988).

Management

• President: Modesto Crespo Martínez
• Director-General Maria Dolores Amorós Marco

Investments

The CAM in the real estate boom

The CAM owed ​​the Spanish property boom rapid growth. So they doubled their total assets to 74 billion euros in 2010 compared to 2005. Thereby, the CAM was the fourth largest savings bank and the eighth largest financial institution in Spain. Almost a quarter of the credit volume of CAM accounted for by the real estate and construction sector. The bursting of the Spanish real estate bubble hit the CAM particularly hard. In the great failures in the real estate industry as Martinsa - Fadesa, Polaris World or Llanera the CAM was among the injured. With the end of fiscal year 2010, according to the newspaper " El Mundo " 80 percent of companies in the construction and hotel sectors, in their activities, the CAM is involved, have been in the red. Countless private could no longer service their mortgage loans during the economic crisis. The loan loss ratio of CAM is estimated by experts to 9 percent. The business newspaper " CincoDias " assumes that the CAM sits on real estate worth 3.5 billion euros, which they desperately try to get rid of.

Political influence

In addition, the influence of the country's politics has damaging effect on the CAM. The law provides for the state and local politics a 33 percent strength representation in the bodies of savings banks. The cast of board position at the savings banks has always been a political issue. Due to the effect of political invested in ruinous CAM products such as the Terra Mitica theme park at Benidorm or the film studios of Ciudad de la Luz in Alicante.

Banco Base

On 24 May 2010, the CAM reached because of government statements with the three savings banks Cajastur, Caja de Extremadura and Caja Cantabria an agreement for the establishment of a Sistema Institucional de Protección (SIP ) ( in German: Institutional Protection System), which in the Spanish banking is called: ( cold fusion to German ) as fusión fría.

The CAM should be considered with Cajastur, have the main parts of the new bank with 40 %, should the Caja Extremadura next 11% and Caja Cantabria hold 9% of the shares.

In July 2010, the Board of Directors of CAM approved their integration into a SIP - bank, Caja de Ahorros of the del Mediterráneo, Caja de Extremadura and Caja de Ahorros belong to the de Santander y Cantabria should. Through this alliance, the fifth largest Spanish bank at all and the third largest Spanish savings should arise. This newly established SIP Bank received the end of December the provisional name of Banco Base.

On 30 March 2011, the representatives of savings banks Cajastur, Caja Extremadura and Caja Cantabria voted against a union with the CAM to Banco Base, because the financial situation of CAM turned out to be worse than we had thought until then. Only the CAM even true for a union with the other savings banks Banco Base. Therefore, the CAM state aid by the Banco de España had now apply in the amount of 2.8 billion euros it needs to recapitalize. This suggests that the CAM could be nationalized, while the leaders of the CAM on the one hand repeatedly emphasize their independence, on the other hand a sale to another Spanish bank, for example, Banco Santander, would welcome.