Major banks’ shares fall as investors prepare for Bank of England stress tests
Banks' shares were among the biggest fallers in the FTSE 100 this morning as investors brace themselves for the Bank of England's stress test results later this week.
At time of writing:
- Shares in Royal Bank of Scotland are down 2.1 per cent at 197.3p,
- Barclays is down 1 per cent at 213.3p,
- Lloyds Banking Group is down 1.6 per cent at 57.86p,
- HSBC is down 0.9 per cent at 635.2p
- Standard Chartered is down 0.2 per cent at 633.4p.
The five banks, along with Nationwide and Santander UK, are participating in this year's round of stress tests, designed to measure the financial health of the lenders. The results will be released in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
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The 2016 stress tests, thought to perhaps be the Bank of England's hardest round yet, are designed to assess what would happen if a financial crash similar to that in 2008 were to happen again.
Among other things, the institutions will be tested on their ability to survive if oil prices sank to $20 per barrel, if unemployment jumped by 4.5 percentage points and if house prices crashed by 31 per cent.
The Bank of England will also release its Financial Stability Report on Wednesday.