Spain may speed up EU 'banking union'

The US has joined ranks with EU officials exploring ways to pump eurozone money directly into Spain's troubled banks instead of having to further burden the state budget.

"We were talking about the possibility that the banks, not only Spain's but also in other countries who need it, could access funds directly without intervention from the governments and without conditions," said Spanish deputy PM Soraya Saenz de Santamaria after meeting US finance minister Timothy Geithner in Washing...