Stress test of European banks

Date 15/07/2011

The European Banking Authority (EBA) has today published the results of a stress test of the European banking system. The stress test has been conducted to assess the stability of the European banking sector. The four major Swedish banks have participated in the test and the assessment is that they are well equipped to deal with unexpected events.

 

In 2009, the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) commissioned the EBA (which was previously known as the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS)) to conduct a stress test of the European banking system together with the European Central Bank (ECB), the national supervisory authorities and the European Commission. The aim was to assess the resilience of the banking system as a whole as well as the ability of individual banks to manage any new financial crises and potential fiscal problems in individual countries.

 

This year’s stress test comprises 91 European banks. Together, the tested banks represent approximately 60 per cent of the banking sector in the EU. In each country, the banks should constitute at least 50 per cent of the national banking sector, measured in terms of total consolidated assets. The test has been drawn up by the ECB and the European Commission on the basis of two commonly agreed alternative scenarios for macro-economic development in the EU in 2011 and 2012.

 

In Sweden, SEB, Handelsbanken, Nordea and Swedbank have been tested.

 

Finansinspektionen has had the main responsibility for conducting the test in Sweden.

 

For more detailed information, please see the links below. The individual results are also presented by the respective banks.