stress tests

The headlines about stress tests released Thursday seemed sort of reassuring, after all the concern about the banking system going under. Ten banks need more capital but the others are safe. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made a point of declaring that none are insolvent. Everyone should breathe easier.
But in the financial blogosphere, many aren’t [...]

Paul Krugman raises a point worth thinking about as you hear more about stress test results for banks, which are expected to be publicly disclosed on Thursday. Why have so many of the results already been leaked — and who is doing the leaking? For example, we’ve known since last week that Citigroup and Bank [...]

The Wall Street Journal reports today that Citigroup and Bank of America may need to raise more capital, based on recent government stress tests of financial institutions. The identities of troubled banks were supposed to remain confidential, but The Journal cites the usual “people familiar with the situation.” Regulators contend the need for Citi and [...]

Some of the nation’s 19 largest banks have substantially reduced capital as a result of the recession and the mortgage crisis, the Federal Reserve’s stress tests show, according to Bloomberg. At the same time, most banks have more than enough reserves on hand to cover any potential losses, the Fed’s paper describing the stress tests [...]

So much for that transparency and openness when it comes to the Obama administration’s financial rescue efforts: The Federal Reserve has reportedly told banks to keep quiet when it comes to the results of stress tests done to find out more about their bottom lines, Bloomberg reports.
The story cites “people familiar with the matter” who [...]