Mother banks pass stress tests

TIRANA, July 27 – All EU-based banks with branches in Albania that underwent stress tests have successfully passed the healthchecks assessing their ability to survive future economic shocks, according to results published by the Committee of European Banking Supervisors (CEBS).
Results showed Austria Raiffeisen Zentralbank which is represented by Raiffeisen Bank, the country’s biggest second-tier bank, and France’s Societe Generale and Credit Agricole with their Banka Popullore and Emporiki branches, all passed the tests.
The situation was quite good even for Greek banks, the National Bank of Greece, Alpha Bank and Piraeus Bank Group which is represented by Tirana Bank.
Italian-based banks Intesa SanPaolo also passed the tests, confirming the Albanian central bank’s declarations of the safety of the Albanian banking system.
Only seven of the 91 European banks that underwent stress tests failed the healthchecks. They include five Spanish banks – Diada, Espiga, Banca Civica, Unnim and Cajasur. The other two were Germany’s Hypo Real Estate and Greece’s ATEbank.
The seven banks failed because in this scenario, it was deemed that their “tier one” capital ratios – the strictest measure of capital – would fall below 6%, the threshold set for the test.