Bulgarian banks system passed EU test
The Bulgarian banks system has successfully passed the so-called "stress tests" performed on 91 major EU financial institutions. Only 7 EU banks did not meet the stability criteria, but none of them have subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Violina Marinova, Chairwoman of the Association of Banks in Bulgaria said in an interview with BNR, quoted by the Telegraf daily. The banks that failed were the German Hypo Real Estate Bank, the Greek ATEbank and five local Spanish banks. They will be obliged to increase their reserves.A few months ago the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) performed its own "crash tests" on the stability of the Bulgarian bank system and concluded that eventual problems might occur only after bad loans exceed 17% of the total credit portfolio of financial institutions. They currently stand at 8%.