Nearly all major US banks pass Fed ‘stress tests’

Associated Press ^ | Mar 20, 2014 7:29 PM EDT | Marcy Gordon and Alex Veiga

[Olog-hai]

More than five years after the financial crisis struck, the biggest U.S. banks are better able to withstand a severe recession than at any time since the meltdown, the Federal Reserve has determined.

Results of the Fed’s annual “stress tests” showed Thursday that all but one of 30 top banks passed muster with sufficient capital buffers to keep them lending through an economic crisis. Only Zions Bancorp fell short. The results showed continued improvement in banks’ financial positions since the 2008 crisis, the Fed said. That built on positive results from last year’s tests.

“The industry is stronger and more profitable than a year ago,” said RBC Capital Markets banking analyst Gerard Cassidy. …

[Olog-hai]

Famous last words?

[ilovesarah2012]

Why don’t I believe this? Is this why all those bank execs are killing themselves? Because everything is hunky-dory?

[SnuffaBolshevik]

How did Lehman fare?

[KarlInOhio]

Like going to your cardiologists office, getting wired up, stepping on the treadmill and being told you passed. Either that or a few years of paying 0.000000001% interest and not actually making any loans except to the government through t-bills have tightened up their balance sheets.