US stress tests under way

Stress tests to determine if additional capital injections are required by major US bank holding companies got under way late last month, as federal authorities sought to better insulate institutions against a further deterioration in financial markets should the global recession deepen.

February 25 saw the first analyses of potential firm-wide losses for 20 US banks with assets greater than $100 billion. The stress tests will look at two separate US macroeconomic scenarios over the next two