Around half of Spain's savings banks are joining together to create an 'estate agent' to sell defaulted property and developments worth €3 billion.
A new company, Ahorro Corporación Soluciones Inmobiliarias (ASCI), will be managed by Ahorro Corporación, a financial services firm jointly owned by the savings banks.
It aims to become the biggest estate agents in Spain using 17,000 local bank branches offering property for sale and to rent.
It is hoped that it will help to offload a huge number of properties that are now owned by the banks and discounts of up to 25% are expected.
So far 23 of Spain's 42 savings banks have joined. Caja Madrid and La Caixa, Spain's two largest savings banks, are not yet part of the scheme but they are looking at the situation closely.
