The European Central Bank said on Wednesday that it has not been consulted on the plan to recapitalize the troubled Spanish lender Bankia, but added that it was ready to give advice.
"Contrary to media reports published today, the European Central Bank has not been consulted and has not expressed a position on plans by the Spanish authorities to recapitalize a major Spanish bank," reports quoted the central bank as saying in a statement.
"The ECB stands ready to give advice on the development of such plans."
Earlier, the Financial Times reported that the ECB had rejected Spain's plan to recapitalize Bankia using sovereign bonds.
Over the weekend, Spain reportedly came up with the idea of recapitalizing Bankia by injecting EUR 19 billion in sovereign bonds into the bank, and then swapping them for cash at the ECB's three-month refinancing window, using the government bonds as collateral.
Meanwhile, Bank of Spain Governor Miguel Fernandez Ordonez yesterday decided to quit the post one month ahead of schedule, handing the responsibility of dealing with the country's deepening banking sector crisis to a successor.
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