MoF: commercial banks represented in Latvia showed very good results

On Friday, July 23, mandated by the Economic and Financial Affairs Council the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS) in cooperation with the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the EU national supervisory authorities conducted the EU-wide stress test exercise. The test was aimed at assessing the vitality of biggest European bank groups under different economic development scenarios.

The Ministry of Finance (MoF) indicates that in general the banks represented in Latvia showed good results in stress testing even in current economic situation meaning that the banking sector in our region is stable. It should be noted that Scandinavian and Italian banks acting in Latvia showed very good results.
 
The MoF emphasises that the stress testing and publishing of test results is fully transparent. It should also be reminded that EU national governments have repeatedly proved their determination to ensure stability of national banking sector to facilitate confidence of the public and investors in European financial markets.
 
Taking into account global financial crisis and lessons learnt from it, responsible Latvian institutions and institutions of other EU Member States closely follow financial market developments ensuring effective supervision and promoting financial stability.

Stress testing results prove that Scandinavian and Italian banks acting in Latvia showed very good results exceeding regulatory minimum of 4% Tier 1 capital, namely, Nordea banka showed 10.1 to 11.3 %, Swedbank – 9.9 to 10.7 %, Danske Bank – 10 to 11.7 %, SEB –10.3 to 11.8 %, and Unicredit – 7.8 % to 10 %. According to results, all these credit institutions would be able to ensure successful and stable performance potential in case of crisis and economic downturn.    
Additional information about the EU-wide stress test exercise results is available on the home page http://www.c-ebs.org/.