For the first time since the annual stress testing regime began in 2014, all the major lenders received a clean bill of health, though the weakest two - Barclays and state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland - struggled. The tests modelled a nightmare scenario under which UK GDP slumps by 4.7% amid a wider global downturn, unemployment rises to 9.5%, the pound plunges and the Bank's interest rate climbs to 4% - while house prices undergo a record 33% collapse. They were carried out on Lloyds Banking Group, HSBC, Barclays, RBS, Santander UK, Standard Chartered and Nationwide.
UK banks strong enough to cope with 'disorderly' Brexit, Bank of England says
- Tuesday, Nov 28 2017
The UK's seven biggest lenders are all strong enough to cope with a "disorderly" no-deal Brexit, according to a Bank of England assessment. But the Bank said it would consider whether the firms needed to hold billions more capital as an emergency buffer in case such a scenario coincided with a wider global downturn. The Bank's financial policy committee also set out a wishlist of actions required to mitigate the risks to UK financial services posed by the departure from the EU.