A Banking Giant Quietly Emerges By Jim Cramer About this article: A new American banking colossus is being born right before our eyes, and because it is quiet, non-promotional and cautious, no one knows about it. I'm talking about Banco Bilbao, the likely winner of a gigantic failing Texas bank, Guaranty Financial. BBV, a 3% yielder that's up 32%, is run out of Bilbao, Spain. Might as well be run out of Pyrenees for all we know. But these quiet magicians didn't slip up like the other banks that had moved aggressively into the U.S., including fellow Spanish bank Santander (still pretty good with an excellent recently reported quarter, but it has made some real bad bets) and Royal Bank of Scotland, which is, of course, a total disaster, even as Citizens, it's American unit, seems to be doing pretty well. Geographically, Bilbao could end up being one of the strongest Southeast regional banks, a not very hard-hit... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200.

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