The first step in the implementation process was taken today with the publication of the asset quality review and the stress test, carried out by the European Central Bank and the European Banking Authority.
The final outcome of this comprehensive and demanding set of tests has shown that the Spanish banks in this Association have successfully passed this exercise and therefore have a sufficiently strong capital base to contribute both to European financial stability and to the growth of the Spanish economy and job creation.
“These results confirm the enormous effort made by the Spanish banks in our association during the crisis years to preserve their capital strength and maintain adequate capital levels and high provisions”, said the President of AEB, José María Roldán, who stressed that “no bank in our Association has needed, unlike a large part of its competitors, public aid to achieve this result”.
This comprehensive assessment of the eurozone banking sector marks the beginning of the European Banking Union, with a single supervisor and a set of common rules for all European banks. In short, single supervision creates a new level playing field, with equal rules for all, in which Spanish banks, due to their business model and international experience, are expected to play a leading role.
Within the tests carried out, the results of the Asset Quality Review (AQR) are of particular relevance, in which, for the first time, eurozone banking assets have been assessed on a consistent basis. In this objective assessment, not dependent on assumptions, Spanish banks have confirmed the strength of their balance sheets, the quality of their assets and the robustness of their provisioning policy.
Likewise, AEB trusts that the transparency and rigour applied by the European authorities will help restore confidence in the European banking sector. “This process should help achieve a more stable, efficient and competitive European banking system, capable of helping the economy overcome its current difficulties and enabling progress towards the definitive integration of the European market for financial services, which was cut short by the crisis”, Mr Roldán noted.
