Gelonghui May 9| Spain has the second largest asset sizebet86gamesSpanish bank Foreign Bank (BBVA) has launched a hostile takeover offer worth more than $12 billion for smaller rival Banco de Sabadell Bank, signaling a possible recovery in trading activity in Europe's long-depressed banking sector. However, the move immediately drew criticism from Spain's economy minister, highlighting the fact that large mergers among banks often come with huge political obstacles. A few days ago, Sabadell's board of directors rejected BBVA's all-share offer. BBVA first tried to acquire the bank four years ago. Apart from UBS's bailout acquisition of Credit Suisse, there have been few deals between European banks in recent years as the industry has struggled to cope with the impact of the economic crisis, negative interest rates, the COVID-19 epidemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.