Under the tests' most severe scenario, unemployment peaks at 12.1%, share prices drop more than 50%, house prices fall more than 20%, and the largest trading firms suffer a sharp market shock.

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At an afternoon session, panelists said the European stress tests should be more severe than the U.S. tests where a severe scenario was defined as one where there was minus 3% gross domestic product growth.

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The adverse scenario for card losses envisaged in American banks' stress tests, a cumulative two-year loss rate of 22.5%, looks increasingly like the base case to others.

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The panel urged that the tests be repeated, since unemployment is expected to exceed the level envisaged in the worst-case scenario.

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