(2 December 2015 – United Kingdom) The UK’s seven largest banks passed a stress tests carried out by the Bank of England.
The tests simulated a Chinese-led economic crisis causing a £100 billion (A$205 billion) reduction in their profits over five years.
Although Standard Chartered and Royal Bank of Scotland fell below minimum capital requirements, both banks were deemed to have passed due to pre-emptive action that will strengthen their respective balance sheets.
Mark Carney, governor of the BoE said: “The stress test results, taken together with banks’ capital plans, indicate that the UK banking system would have the capacity to continue to lend to the real economy even under such a severe scenario.”
Building society, Nationwide was determined to be the strongest followed by Lloyds Banking Group, Santander UK, HSBC and Barclays.