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Empresas y finanzas

Top U.S. banks must hold sizable capital buffer: Fed


    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top 19 U.S. banks need to hold a "substantial" amount of capital above regulatory requirements to weather a potential worsening of the economic recession, the U.S. Federal Reserve said on Friday.

    Supervisors said "stress tests" regulators conducted at major banks were aimed at ensuring the institutions have enough capital in reserve to continue to lend in potentially bleaker conditions, and are not to be considered a measure of banks' current solvency.

    "It is important to recognize that the assessment is a 'what if?' exercise intended to help supervisors gauge the extent of capital needs across a range of potential economic outcomes," the Fed said in a white paper outlining the methodologies regulators employed.

    (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal and Karey Wutkowski; Editing by James Dalgleish)