Madrid  - The central bank of Spain, a country whose banking system has remained largely untouched in the ongoing world financial crisis, has intervened to save regional savings institution Caja Castilla-La Mancha (CCM), the government said Sunday evening.

The Bank of Spain took control of CCM on Sunday and removed its board of directors, the government said.

Spain's Finance and Economy Minister Pedro Solbes said the savings bank had a large liquidity problem, in comments after a cabinet meeting.

Solbes dismissed reports that CCM had a financial shortfall of up to 3 billion euros (4 billion dollars), but noted that no financial firm is immune against the global financial crisis.

Depositors' accounts and savings of around 17 billion euros at CCM are insured.

A merger with Unicaja savings bank had been considered as part of the rescue plan, and the status of those considerations was not clear.

CCM is headquartered in the central Spanish city of Cuenca and has an estimated million account holders.

In light of the global financial crisis, Spanish banking federation CECA has recently requested state aid and has warned the government against underestimating the difficulties under which the industry has been labouring.

Due to strict controls by the financial oversight authorities, Spain's banks have so far remained largely unharmed by the crisis. The country's savings banks however have been suffering from a lack of credit brought about by the end of the country's real estate boom. (dpa)