ECB Funds for Santander Helped Bail Out the British Royal Family

At the end of 2007, Spanish banks— including the London-controlled giant, Banco Santander—massively created securities which had no markets, for the sole purpose of depositing them at the European Central Bank, after the ECB issued new regulations for collateral. It was an ECB-orchestrated bail-out of the Spanish banking sector. It was reported that in December 2007 alone, Spanish banks borrowed EU63 billion through the ECB Repo facility. In March 2008, EIR wrote, "Since last September, the Spanish banks alone represent 9% of the volume of refinancing conducted by the ECB, whereas they comprised only 4-5% before then." LaRouche's comment was: "They are bailing out the British royal family."

Spanish banks got EU27.7 billion in liquidity injections from the ECB since mid-2008, according to a chart published by Santander's controller, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). This amounts to 12.1% of the total of ECB injections in the Eurozone. Germany, which is twice the size of Spain, got roughly as much — EU28.5 billion. Ireland got EU60 billion (26.2%), and France EU40.1 billion (17.5%).