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Europe to unveil new bank stress tests in March

21 February 2011, 16:43 CET
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(BRUSSELS) - The European Union will announce a new round of bank tests to determine their financial health on March 2 after last year's results were criticised for failing to spot a huge black hole at Irish lenders.

EU financial services commissioner Michel Barnier gave the date on Monday having previously said the tests -- seen as vital to gauge potential bank weakness in other weak EU countries such as Spain -- would be conducted as early as this month.

He said the delay was due to the "very complex" nature of testing required if the 2011 edition was to produce "credible" results.

The stringency of tests carried out in July last year was heavily criticised after Bank of Ireland and Allied Irish Banks passed them only to need massive bailouts a few months later, pushing Ireland itself to then ask for help.

Of the 91 European banks tested in July, only seven -- five in Spain, one in Germany and one in Greece -- were judged to be vulnerable to a fresh crisis.

In January, Barnier said "we are going to draw the lessons by making the next tests more rigorous and even more credible."


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