ECB denies reports about which banks failed tests

The European Central Bank has said that media reports about lenders passing or failing its Asset-Quality Review and stress test before the release of results on October 26 were “highly speculative”.

“No final results have been sent to banks involved,” the ECB said in an emailed statement, after separate articles named 11 banks failing the review and one borderline case that passed.

“The results will not be final until they are considered by the Governing Council of the ECB on Sunday, October 26, after which they will be published.”

Lenders are set to receive preliminary results at noon today, and will be asked to consent to their publication.

Meanwhile, the Frankfurt-based ECB is conducting the unprecedented two-stage audit of the financial system’s robustness before it takes over bank supervision for the euro area in November.

Spain’s Efe news service reported yesterday that 11 banks, from Greece to Belgium, were set to fail.

A spokesman for Austria’s Erste Bank, named in the report, denied they had any indications that the lender had failed.

The stock fell as much as 2.3% in Vienna.

HSH Nordbank, a German regional lender previously in regulators’ sights for its exposure to the shipping industry, was said to have passed the review, according to a report by Reuters.

The lender declined to comment on the report.

Bloomberg