Publish or be damned

22 July 2010 By Peter Thal Larsen Follow @Peter_TL

The 91 lenders subject to Europe’s stress tests have been asked for detailed information on their government bond holdings. The body overseeing the exercise has promised not to publish it. But if some banks come clean, others will face immense pressure to follow suit.

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The Committee of European Banking Supervisors, the body overseeing Europe's stress tests, has asked banks to provide a detailed breakdown of their holdings of sovereign debt.

A CEBS document, sent to banks and obtained by Reuters, asks for disclosure on holdings of the debt of 30 different European countries.

The template asks for gross and net exposures. It also asks banks to distinguish between holdings held in the bank trading book and the banking book.

The document says CEBS will not publish the information in Annex 3, but says it can be used in "individual disclosures by banks and/or supervisory authorities".

Greek banks are planning to spell out their sovereign bond holdings, according to a person familiar with the matter. Spain's central bank is also planning additional disclosure, and has invited analysts to a presentation about the stress tests on the morning of Saturday, July 24.

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