Bankia shares hit by $1.6BN withdrawals report
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Shares in Bankia, the recently nationalized Spanish bank, are plunging by more than 20 percent on a local report that customers have withdrawn more than €1 billion ($1.27 billion) since the state took it over last week.
The shares were off 16 percent Thursday at €1.39 after falling as much as 27 per cent during the morning.
The newspaper El Mundo reported it had obtained access to data presented at a Bankia board meeting Wednesday which said depositors had withdrawn €1 billion since last Wednesday, the day the nationalization was announced. The bank is Spain's fourth largest and is heavily exposed to Spain's collapsed property market.
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Bankia officials were not immediately available to comment on the newspaper report. Bankia was formed through a merger of seven troubled regional savings banks.