Spanish Impasse Deters Investors as Banks Trade at Crisis Levels

Spanish banks are trading at levels last seen at the height of the country’s financial crisis as the chances of anti-austerity party Podemos playing a role in the next government rise.

Spanish lenders have been caught up the market rout hurting banks across Europe, with the government hamstrung by the result of December’s general election and Catalonia, the country’s biggest regional economy, agitating for independence. Mariano Rajoyis limping on as acting prime minister after losing a third of his seats as he tries to patch together a majority from the most divided parliament in the country’s history.