UPDATE: UK banks not among eight to fail EU stress tests

UK banks were not among the eight institutions to fail the European stress tests on the sector.

Of the institutions that failed, five were from Spain, two were from Austria and one from Greece, while a further 16 banks are in the danger zone. The UK's ‘big four' banks all passed the tests, having core tier one capital ratios of above 5%. HSBC fared best, with a capital ratio of 8.5%, while Lloyds had 7.7%, Barclays 7.3%, and Royal Bank of Scotland had 6.3%. The EU-wide tests included 90 institutions in 21 countries, representing 65% of assets in the sector. The European Banking Authority (EBA) said 16 banks had a core tier one capital ratio of between 5% and 6%, but eight bank...