Catalonia Crisis: Spanish banks to face stress test as independence group calls for mass withdrawal

Spanish banks operating in the Catalan region are set to feel the heat of the feud between Barcelona and Madrid. On Thursday, just before the deadline expired, Catalonia’s Independence leader Carles Puigdemont announced in a letter sent to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy that he is not prepared to renounce the Independence bid and threatened that he would declare Independence if the Madrid government strips the region of its autonomy using Article 155 provision of the Spanish Constitution.

On Thursday, Catalonia’s one of the major civil society groups, Assemblea Nacional urged its supporters to withdraw as much money as they want from the top 5 banks (CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, Bankia, BBVA, and Santander) to add pressure to the Spanish government and make them feel the pain, where it hurts.

If the call is followed by supporters of Independence the banks operating in the region is likely to face the crisis of a bank run given the fact that Catalonia contributes about 20 percent to Spanish GDP and 25 percent to Spanish exports.