British banks pass BoE stress tests

Britain's top seven lenders have passed the Bank of England's stress tests, the central bank said Tuesday in its latest health check on the sector.

The BoE's Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) watchdog concluded that the sector has adequate capital to survive a "severe" shock.

The PRA tested the impact of a sharp slowdown in Chinese economic growth, a shrinking eurozone economy, and slumping commodity prices with oil tumbling to $38 per barrel.

"The stress-test results suggest that the banking system is capitalised to support the real economy in a severe global stress scenario which adversely affects the United Kingdom," the BoE said in a report.

The regulator said Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, Nationwide and Santander UK did not show capital inadequacies in the BoE's second round of stress tests.

It cautioned that state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and emerging markets lender Standard Chartered fell short in some parts of the assessment.

RBS did not meet the regulator's individual capital guidance and Standard Chartered did not meet one of its minimum capital requirements.

However, both banks were not asked to submit any new capital-raising plans in light of steps taken to strengthen their capital positions.

The PRA tested the impact of a sharp slowdown in Chinese economic growth, a shrinking eurozone economy, and slumping commodity prices with oil tumbling to $38 per barrel.