US banks fear Q1 stress capital buffer reset

Officials at the US Federal Reserve have said they will not reset US banks’ stress capital buffers “at this time” following the latest stress test results, but banks fear the possibility of increases in the first quarter of 2021.

The Fed published the results of its second stress test of the US banking system on 18 December, and chose to keep each bank’s stress capital buffer (SCB) unchanged at the level set on October 1, 2020. But it also announced it was extending the window in which it can