No stress for Estonia’s banks

TALLINN - All banks represented in Estonia who participated in the pan-European stress test passed the strength analysis test, the European Banking Authority announced, reported National Broadcasting. Ninety-one banking groups operating in the EU were included in the operating analysis, which covered 65 percent of the EU banking sector assets, announced Estonian Financial Inspection.

The stress test covered at parent bank group level the following banks operating in the Estonian market: Allied Irish Banks, Danske, DnB NORD, Marfin, Nordea, OP-Pohjola, SEB, Svenska Handelsbanken, Swedbank and UniCredit. All of them passed the test.
Estonian Finance Minister Jurgen Ligi said that the stress test testified to good capitalization of banks operating in Estonia.
“The test covered 98 percent of the Estonian banking market and, thus, we can say that our credit environment is strong and trustworthy,” said Ligi.

“Although the resistance ability of banks was measured in much worse situations than the reality, the confirmation received with the test about good capitalization of our banks is very good news for our economy,” said Ligi, noting that similar to the rest of the private sector and state finances, banks also reacted effectively to the crisis and learned from their mistakes.