Newsletter July/August 2010: officials defend “severe, rigorous” stress tests

LONDON – Despite widespread scepticism, European officials insist the much-vaunted stress testing of the EU’s 91 largest banks has been conducted to a very rigorous standard. Presenting the results of the four-month exercise in London in late July, Vítor Constâncio, vice-president of the European Central Bank (ECB), described the assumptions and scenarios underlying the stress test as “severe, rigorous and very comprehensive.” The test results show the “resilience of the EU banking sector” and make a “big contribution to financial stability” in Europe, he claimed.