Cebs: Bank stress-testing results to remain secret

The results of an EU-wide banking stress test will be ready by September, but Cebs says they "will remain confidential"

LONDON - The Committee of European Banking Supervisors (Cebs) has issued a statement on the forthcoming EU-wide banking stress test being planned by supervisors.

Cebs says its stress test will be carried out and its risk assessment ready by September, within the context of EU member supervisors' existing regular risk assessments of banks - but that the results will remain secret.

The test will, according to Cebs, be a forward-looking exercise on the aggregate banking system, and not a stress test to identify individual banks in need of recapitalisation - such as the banking stress tests carried out in the US this month by the Treasury and Federal Reserve.

Cebs says any such micro-prudential capital-raising stress tests remain the responsibility of the 27 EU member state supervisory authorities.

It adds that the objective of its EU-wide exercise is to use common guidelines and scenarios to increase the level of aggregate information among policymakers in assessing the resilience of the EU single market to shocks and to harmonise best practices.