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Spanish banks, awaiting the first payments from a 100 billion-euro ($127 billion) European credit line, saw bad loans hit a new high in September, new data showed on Monday. The new figures won't affect the euro zone aid, aimed at cleaning up the toxic real estate assets from the lenders’ balance sheets, but reflect moves by the banks to be more realistic about the extent of their bad loans. A recent independent audit of Spanish banks concluded that they needed capital injections totalling 60 billion euros to ride out a severe economic crisis. Non-performing loans are on the rise because of an exercise of recognition due to the stress test which has resulted in a very in-depth analysis and obliged lenders to come up with provisions, said Jaime Guardiola, CEO at Banco Sabadell.

Thyssen seeks binding bids for US, Brazil plants

ThyssenKrupp will open its books to remaining prospective bidders for its US and Brazilian steel mills and ask them to make binding offers for the loss-making plants, the company said on Monday. ThyssenKrupp said in May it was considering all options for the mills, including a partnership or a sale, to halt losses there and concentrate on its European business. The plants were supposed to give it a foothold in the Americas but have struggled with rising costs and weak demand. In the second phase that has now been started, selected bidders will be given the opportunity to analyse the plants

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