For Spain and Ireland these amounts are at their highest since 2008, in the other countries they are lower than the peaks reached in 2009. For the Spanish banks, a programme of recapitalization using European funds of up to € billion was authorized in July, of which € billion (3.9 per cent of GDP) has already been disbursed.
On March 13, Bear advised the Federal Reserve and other government agencies that its liquidity position had significantly deteriorated, and that it would be forced to file for bankruptcy the next day unless alternative sources of funds became available.