Bernanke rules out repeat of Scap stress tests

US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke played down the prospect of further stress tests for systemically important banks, describing the 2009 tests under the Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (Scap) as "a one-time event" in a speech in Chicago today.

Speaking to the Chicago Fed's annual conference on bank structure and supervision, Bernanke said the Scap tests had been valuable, but were "a watershed event – unprecedented in scale and scope". He added: "Circumstances may not again call fo