Santander breaks the ice with debt sale

Spanish banks have not been able to sell debt for five months, but yesterday Santander took the initiative and sold 2 billion euros in two-year notes. It has acted similarly on other occasions.

The bank, headed by CEO Emilio Botín, took advantage of the brief respite that markets have enjoyed for the past couple of weeks in order to take steps toward normalcy. The size of the debt issue is small and set for a really short time, but shows that Spain doesn?t need to rely on the ECB for financing.

It?s also important that Santander?s sale is not an isolated deal. BBVA, la Caixa and Telefónica should follow in its steps. If they do, then some confidence will return to Spain.