Bankia revises 2011 results, posts nearly 3 bn euro loss

Spanish bank Bankia said Friday it had revised its results for 2011, posting a loss of nearly three billion euros instead of the 309 million euro net profit announced in February.

Spain’s fourth-largest bank unveiled its revised results for last year after it announced it would ask the Spanish government for 19 billion euros ($24 billion), the biggest-ever bailout to a Spanish lender.

“The write-downs made in the loan portfolio and foreclosed assets…have produced negative results in 2011 of 2.979 billion euros,” it said in a statement.

Formed in 2010 from a merger of seven savings banks, Bankia had problematic property assets amounting to 31.8 billion euros at the end of last year, according to Bank of Spain figures.

The bank, which holds some 10 percent of the country’s bank deposits, was partially nationalised this month as Madrid tried to save it from its vast exposure to the troubled property sector.

The state took a controlling 45-percent stake by converting a loan of 4.465 billion euros to its parent group BFA into equity.