The Bank of England is today setting out the timetable for the publication of the UK stress test results. This follows an announcement by the European Banking Authority (EBA) about the EU-wide stress test timetable.
In March 2013, the Financial Policy Committee (FPC) recommended that regular stress testing of the UK banking system should be developed to assess the system’s capital adequacy. In a Discussion Paper published in October 2013, the Bank of England set out proposals for the main features of a framework for annual and concurrent stress-testing of the UK banking system.
On 29 April 2014 the Bank of England set out details of the scenario for the stress tests for the eight major UK banks and building societies. The UK stress testing exercise built on the EU-wide stress test, announced in January 2014 by the EBA. The Bank of England added a number of additional UK layers to the EBA stress test (UK variant) which explore vulnerabilities facing the UK banking system.
The Bank of England has received firms’ initial stress testing submissions and is in the process of analysing the results. The FPC and the PRA Board will discuss that analysis over the autumn. Final decisions on the results of the stress tests will be made by both committees on 15 December and will be fed back to the firms involved on the same day. The UK variant stress test results will be published alongside the Financial Stability Report at 07:00 hrs (GMT) on 16 December.
The Bank of England will not comment on any speculation about the results until they are published. The results will be decided on 15 December, not before.
Background
1. EBA press release on 2014 EU-wide stress test publication datehttps://www.eba.europa.eu/-/eba-announces-2014-eu-wide-stress-test-publication-date
2. Bank of England press release announcing the UK-variant
3. Stress testing the UK banking system: key elements of the 2014 stress test
4. Stress testing the UK banking system: guidance for participating firms
5. A framework for stress testing the UK banking system - A Discussion Paper
6. FPC statement March 2013 – “Looking to 2014 and beyond, the Bank and PRA should develop proposals for regular stress testing of the UK banking system. The purpose of those tests would be to assess the system’s capital adequacy. The framework should be able to accommodate any judgements by the Committee on emerging threats to financial stability”.
7. EBA press release on stress tests April 2014
8. Further details of how the UK variant stress test and the EBA stress test fit together are available on the Bank of England website
www.bankofengland.co.uk/financialstability/Pages/fpc/stresstest.aspx