Spain calls off auction of nationalized lender Catalunya Banc

MADRID: Spain's bank restructuring fund FROB on Monday said it called off the auction of nationalized lender Catalunya Banc.

The FROB said in a statement it would have until the end of 2016 to sell the bank under European Union competition rules, after it received a cash injection as part of a 40-billion-euro bailout of Spain's struggling banking sector.

Sources told Reuters earlier on Monday that the Spanish authorities were mulling calling off the auction because it had failed to attract interest from the country's top banks.