* Sources: euro zone finance ministers to hold conference call Saturday * Statement expected afterwards on Spanish aid request * Spanish s...
* Statement expected afterwards on Spanish aid request
* Spanish spokeswoman says not aware of any pending announcement
* Fitch downgrades Spain 3 notches, says banks need 60-100 bln euros
(Adds quotes from Merkel, paragraphs 11-12)
By Julien Toyer and Matthias Sobolewski
MADRID/BERLIN, June 8 (Reuters) - Spain is expected to ask the euro zone for help with recapitalising its stricken banks at the weekend, EU and German sources said on Friday, becoming the fourth country to seek assistance since Europe's debt crisis began.
Five officials in Brussels and Berlin said the finance ministers of the single currency area would hold a conference call on Saturday morning to discuss a Spanish request for aid, although no figure on the assistance has been set.
The Eurogroup, which comprises the 17 euro zone states, will issue a statement after the call, which is scheduled to take place before midday (1000 GMT), the sources said.
"The announcement is expected for Saturday afternoon," one of the EU officials said.
The dramatic move comes after Fitch Ratings cut Madrid's sovereign credit rating by three notches to BBB on Thursday, highlighting the Spanish banking sector's exposure to bad property loans and to contagion from Greece's debt crisis.
"The government of Spain has realised the seriousness of their problem," a senior German official said.
He added that an agreement had to be reached before a Greek general election on June 17 which could cause market panic and increase the possibility of Athens leaving the euro zone if parties opposed to the terms of an EU/IMF bailout win.
The EU and German sources spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
The European Commission's spokesman on economic affairs said Spain had made no request for aid and he would not confirm that a conference call was planned. But he added that if Spain did make a request, the euro zone had instruments ready to use.
"If such a request were to be made, the instruments are there, ready to be used, in agreement with the guidelines agreed in the past," Amadeu Altafaj said. "We are not at that point."
Speaking in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she was not pressing any country into taking a bailout, saying it was up to Spain to decide what it wanted to do: "It's down to the individual countries to turn to us," she said.
"That has not happened so far, and therefore (we) will not exert any pressure."
In Madrid, where the Spanish cabinet was holding its weekly meeting, a government spokeswoman said she was not aware of any pending announcement on a bank rescue. She recalled that Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said on Thursday he would await the outcome of two external audits later this month before talking about how to recapitalise troubled lenders. [ID:nE8E8FQ00N]
Spain is expected to request aid from the euro zone's 440 billion euro bailout mechanism, known as the European Financial Stability Facility. The amount will depends on the results of audits being conducted by the International Monetary Fund and two independent assessors.
Financial industry sources told Reuters on Thursday that a report by the IMF, to be handed to Spain on Friday and expected to be made public on Monday, had estimated Spanish banks' minimum capital needs at 40 billion euros ($50.25 billion), rising to 90 billion euros for a fuller recapitalisation.
A separate independent audit of the banking sector, commissioned from consultants Oliver Wyman and Roland Berger, which the government had flagged as crucial, is due on June 21.
The euro zone has been under strong pressure from the United States, China, Canada and other major partners to take swift, decisive action to prevent the debt crisis spreading and causing greater damage to the world economy.
Fitch said the cost to the Spanish state of recapitalising banks stricken by the bursting of a real estate bubble, recession and mass unemployment could be between 60-100 billion euros ($75-$125 billion) - or 6 to 9 percent of Spain's gross domestic product. The higher figure would be in a stress scenario equivalent to Ireland's bank crash.
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