UK top four banks respond to stress test success

Britain's four main banks have released statements following their stress test success.The test is meant to assess each bank's capital adequacy against a 5.5% common equity tier 1 (CET1) capital benchmark.The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) claimed that its improvement "reflected actions taken to reduce legacy asset exposures coupled with a significant improvement in trading performance".Its Irish subsidiary Ulster Bank added: "The capital position of Ulster Bank has strengthened considerably during 2014, reflecting actions taken to reduce legacy asset exposures coupled with a significant improvement in trading performance."Lloyds Banking Group, which achieves a capital benchmark of 6.2%, said that it "is not required to take any action as a result of this stress test and will continue to ensure that its robust capital position is maintained".Barclays obtained a figure of 7.1%, and confirmed on Sunday that "under both bases of calculation, Barclays' ratios exceed the EBA-defined 5.5% minimum threshold".HSBC received the highest percentage of the four banks, at 9.3%. The company stated that the positive "results demonstrate HSBC's continuing capital strength".The Bank of England will publish results from its own stress test on 16 December.