Bank of England Cancels Annual Stress Test of Major Firms (2)

The Bank of England canceled its annual health check of eight major U.K. banks and building societies and signaled that lenders shouldn’t race to set aside provisions for bad loans due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The moves were made to “help lenders focus on meeting the needs of U.K. households and businesses via the continuing provision of credit,” the BOE said in a statement on Friday. The 2019 stress tests showed the U.K. banking system “resilient to deep simultaneous recessions in the U.K.”

The banks due to to be tested were Barclays Plc, HSBC Holdings Plc, Lloyds Banking ...