"Complete Strip-tease" by Spanish banks shows no more need for capital

The Telegraph reports that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy thinks that the 'complete strip-tease' by the Spanish banks shows that they need no more capital.

As everyone knows, there is a difference between a strip-tease and the fully monty.  The former leaves much of the subject still covered, while the latter reveals all.

If Mr. Rajoy thinks that the Spanish banks have bared all, then his administration should be more than willing to require all Spanish banks to provide ultra transparency and disclose on an ongoing basis their current global asset, liability and off-balance sheet exposure details.

If there is nothing to hide after the strip-tease, then there is no reason for the banks to object to letting market participants confirm this fact for themselves.

On the other hand, by not requiring the banks to provide ultra transparency, the Spanish government is waving a red cape saying that the banks still have something to hide.

Mariano Rajoy has said that he is "absolutely convinced" that Spain will not need any more funds to prop-up its ailing banking sector, as he urged Germany and other stronger eurozone nations to do more to boost growth in the region. 

Spain's prime minister dismissed doubts over the current health of Spanish lenders, and argued that the country's banks had already revealed the extent of their troubles in a “complete striptease” of the sector. “I am absolutely convinced that Spanish financial institutions will not require any more funds than were given already,” he told the Financial Times.

Spain was forced to seek a bank bail-out of up to €100bn from the EU last June. A later audit revealed that the country's lenders would need a combined capital injection of almost €60bn.