Everybody expects the Spanish acquisition – well, shaky lenders in America’s sunbelt probably do. Spain’s largest banks, after all, have weathered the financial crisis better than most global peers. Not that things are hunky-dory for them at home, where recession and soaring unemployment still hurt. But BBVA’s absorption on Friday of Guaranty Financial, the distressed Texas bank auctioned by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, suggests Spain’s large lenders are ready to capitalise on Anglo-Saxon banking folly. BBVA’s latest US foray is the second by a Spanish bank this year. In January, Santander, fresh from absorbing overstretched British lenders, bought Philadelphia-based Sovereign Bancorp, in which it already had a 24 per cent stake.

At first glance, Guaranty brings few immediate benefits for BBVA. True, it takes the bank deeper into Texas and California, building on the footprint gained when it bought Compass Bancshares in 2007. It also accelerates BBVA’s strategy to become a US regional bank. But investors, who marked up its shares by 3 per cent ahead of the deal, will have to wait for any significant effect on BBVA’s bottom line. Though it established its US beachhead five years and about $13bn ago, its operations there still contribute only about 4 per cent of the combined profit of its Spanish, Portuguese and Mexican franchises.