Most Banks Pass Stress Test, But With Lower Than Expected Margin

While 29 out of 30 bank holding companies passed the Federal Reserve’s most recent stress tests (maintaining at least 5% tier 1 capital ratio in the severe adverse scenario), and Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION) already has plans to resubmit, the Fed’s estimates came in well below what many banks had projected when conducting internal stress tests.

Fed switched to independent projections this year

“Several banks have released their own stressed capital ratios under severely adverse scenario,” write Credit Suisse analysts Moshe Orenbuch, Jill Glaser Shea and Craig Sieganthaler in a March 20 report. “The most relevant variance from expectations was at Bank of America, where the minimum stressed ratio under the Fed’s scenario of 6.0% compared to our estimate of 7.5% (adjusted)...