Bankinter

A Spanish court has sentenced a former top banker to 18 months in jail for trying to smuggle a Picasso painting deemed a national treasure out of the country on a sailing yacht.    

The court also fined ex-Bankinter head Jaime Botin 52.4 million euros ($58.4 million), according to the Madrid court ruling issued on January 14 which was made public on Jan. 16.    

Heavily indebted telecoms giant Telefonica said yesterday that its net profit fell close to 14 percent last year to 2.36 billion euros, hit by restructuring costs linked to a voluntary redundancy scheme in Spain.