Fed boss: Bank exam results should buoy confidence

[May 12, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke says results of the government's unprecedented "stress tests" of the nation's 19 largest banks should bolster Americans' battered confidence in the U.S. banking system.

The much-anticipated results, released last Thursday, showed that 10 banks must raise a total of $75 billion in new capital to absorb potential losses if the recession were to take a turn for the worse. The remaining nine had enough capital to withstand a deeper recession.

In remarks prepared for a Federal Reserve conference Monday in Georgia, Bernanke says he hopes and expects the public and investors will take what he calls "considerable comfort" from the fact that the nation's largest financial institutions have been evaluated in a comprehensive and rigorous fashion.

[Associated Press; By JEANNINE AVERSA]

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