First, the 2014 stress test, as part of the comprehensive assessment, was a much broader exercise than the current one. In 2014, 130 banks took part in the comprehensive assessment, which consisted of an asset quality review and a stress test. In preparation for the ECB’s takeover of its supervisory responsibilities, the exercise aimed to identify possible capital shortfalls and ascertain if any banks required immediate recapitalisation measures. As euro area banks have since moved to more of a steady state and have become better capitalised overall, the aim of the 2016 exercise is rather to assess remaining vulnerabilities and understand the impact of hypothetical adverse market dynamics on banks. The stress test as part of the 2014 comprehensive assessment and the 2016 stress test are hence quite different in nature.
In addition, the newly introduced changes in the Pillar 2 structure (breakdown into requirements and guidance) mean that the SREP 2015 cannot be directly compared with the findings of the 2016 stress test. It would thus be wrong to deduce that a bank must immediately raise capital if its capital ratio in the 2016 stress test is lower than the Pillar 2 capital demanded in the SREP 2015.   _{Your Comment}