Borrowing surged to €263.5 billion from €227.6 billion in March and the fourth consecutive monthly record, Bank of Spain figures showed.
The ECB pumped over €1 trillion in cheap loans into the banking system in December and February, seeking to avert a dangerous credit squeeze. Meanwhile, Spain's borrowing costs rose today in an auction of 12 and 18-month debt, central bank figures showed.
Spanish banks have found it hard to borrow money from banks in other euro zone countries because many in Spain are heavily exposed to the property sector, which has been in a slump since a bubble burst in 2008.
Spain's top four banks will build a new €11.3 billion cushion against bad loans, latest statements showed, but investors feared it was not enough. The extra cash meets drastic new rules announced on Friday.
These oblige Spanish banks to set aside an extra €30 billion in 2012 in case loans to the collapsed property sector go bad. That is on top of the €53.8 billion the banks were told to set aside to comply with reforms enacted in February.
Under the new reform, Madrid also charged two auditing firms with valuing banks' exposure to the property sector, and said it would force banks to shift seized property assets from their balance sheets and place them in separate agencies.
The big banks revealed the financial impact of the new rules for this year in a series of statements issued up to today:
- Santander, the biggest euro zone bank by market value, said it would set aside an additional €2.7 billion.
- BBVA, the second largest Spanish bank, said it would make an additional €1.8 billion in provisions.
- CaixaBank, the country's third largest, will provision €2.1 billion more.
- Bankia, which the government announced last week will be nationalised to salvage its balance sheet from a vast exposure to the property sector, said it would set aside €4.7 billion.
Among others, Banca Civica, which is merging with CaixaBank, will provision €1.2 billion and number-five bank Banco Popular said it would set aside a net €2.3 billion, without giving gross figures.
Investors sent banking shares into a slide despite the reform, enshrined in a royal decree that was welcomed by officials of the European Union and International Monetary Fund.