ROME (MNI) – All five Italian banks passed the “rigorous and
severe” scenarios included in the EU stress tests, the Bank of Italy
said Friday.
The results of the testS “confirmed Italian banks’ ability to
absorb the impact of a significant deterioration in the current
macroeconomic and market conditions,” the central bank said.
The tested banks were Monte dei Paschi di Siena, Unicredit, Banca
Intesa San Paolo, Banco Popolare and UBI Banca.
At the end of 2011, the tier 1 ratio for none of the five groups
would fall below the threshold of 6%, which is two points higher than
the current regulatory minimum.
In a written press release, the Bank of Italy noted that although
the initial capital ratios of the large Italian banks were “well above
the regulatory minimums, on average they are low by comparison with the
other European banks.”
The gap reflects Italian prudential regulation, which sets more
stringent limits on the inclusion of certain instruments in the capital
aggregates that are the numerator of the ratios, and large-scale public
recapitalization operations that benefitted some large European banks,
the BOI said.
“By international comparison the Italian groups stand out for a low
degree of financial levarage, as a consequence of their business
consisting mainly in traditional intermediation activity.”
As part of its prudential supervision, the Bank of Italy said it
would “carefully evaluate the results of the stress test” with each of
the banks involvded.
— Elena Pinardi Rome, Market News International
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