Europe Vows to Help Banks Failing Stress Tests

BRUSSELS (AFP) - European finance ministers on Monday seeking to ease market jitters over the health of Europe's banking sector, vowing to help banks find a "stress tests" to be vulnerable to new economic crisis.
Finance ministers also supported the methodology of the tests, the results of which should be Published on July 23, and denied that the standards have been watered down to ensure good scores for the 91 banks have been examined.
"We take the necessary measures," if some banks show weaknesses, Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders, whose country is responsible rotating EU presidency, said within the first two days of meetings.
Cyprus Finance Minister Charilaos Stavrakis: If today the European banks to "come out stronger once the stress tests are announced.
"In the unlikely case that some banks have some capital injection, we'll find the best way to strengthen their balance», Stavrakis said before the meeting of ministers from 16 nations that share the euro.
Tests on 91 banks, accounting for 65 percent of the European banking system, are to be released on July 23 amid hopes they urged markets, banks are afraid may have hidden some of their problems under the carpet.
"When will the result, we are committed to Europe to take decisive action, if necessary, at this point stress tests are disclosed," said Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble denied that the tests were eased standards to ensure that banks have to pass them.
"First, it was said that they were too tough, they bring all banks to bankruptcy. The next day was to say that they are too weak, and that the exercise is meaningless », Schaeuble journalists.
"In general, the truth lies in the fact that somewhere in the middle," he said.
Germany's finance minister said tests were "an important step to end the uncertainty that is persisting on the market situation of banks in Europe.
Austrian Finance Minister Jose Proell also rejected the criticism, saying that tests are conducted, arguing that there was "no political influence on or defines the parameters, nor about the results.
Banks are afraid to health caused decline in euro against the dollar on Monday.
"The main question is what more results, 91 banks have to be released," Commerzbank said in a note to clients. "If the published results are too vague, speculation about the problems some banks will arise.
Some economists have warned that the tests will show that several European banks need fresh capital.
Banks in Spain, a country hard hit by the financial crisis, may be the total capital injection of 50 billion euros (63 billion dollars), said analysts at Royal Bank of Scotland.
The bank held its stress test is based on a scenario of intense crisis, which found that Spanish banks will be forced to take a 30 percent haircut to their sovereign debt portfolio.
In such a scenario, the financial losses that amount to 400 billion euros by the Spanish banking sector and 1.3 trillion euros for the other eurozone.
Health of the European banking sector has come under sharp focus by investors concerned that they may be hit hard by the European sovereign debt crisis.
Some large European banks are mulling, the creation of a 20 billion-euro fund the restoration of private sector bail out troubled financial institutions, head of UniCredit Bank, Alessandro Profumo, said the Financial Times.
The debt crisis forced European governments to bail out of Greece and was established in 750 billion-euro loan package with the International Monetary Fund to help in any other state, which can be helped.
The package, however, has already occurred to Slovakia, which wants to renegotiate its contribution to the package. Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos that his government would decide, as quickly as possible. "
European finance ministers were also expected to discuss the status of negotiations for the creation of pan-European financial sector watchdogs.