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Spanish Bank Bailout Means Forcing Losses on Cooks, Pensioners
Maribel Martinez, 51, was counting on income from the 82,000 euros ($100,360) of savings she invested in Bankia preferred shares two years ago after losing her job cooking meals for nuns in a Barcelona convent. A 1,435-euro interest payment on the 7 percent securities failed to arrive in the family bank account on July 7, said her husband Paco Valiente. On June 1, the group suspended 52 million euros of payments to holders of 3 billion euros of preferred shares sold in 2009 by Caja Madrid, one of its founding savings banks, after the lender restated 2011 earnings to show a 3.3 billion-euro loss. Missed payments may ... (full story)