France's Noyer doesn't expect big surprises from ECB bank review

Bank of France governor Christian Noyer said Monday that given the effort banks had put in to strengthening their finances an ECB review will unlikely uncover major surprises. "There is no reason that we should find major problems given the work that has been carried out," said Noyer, who also sits on the European Central Bank's governing council. The ECB is carrying out a review of the eurozone's top 130 banks before taking over as their regulator at the end of this year as part of a new banking union being created. There have been concerns however that the asset quality review and stress tests could turn up surprises and spark a new crisis in the eurozone. But Noyer said that "we have seen over the past years, the past months, that the banks have considerably reinforced their capital, their resilience and adjusted their balance sheets." There have also been concerns the ECB could take a light touch in carrying out the review to avoid destabilising the eurozone, but Noyer said it would be conducted "without complacency". The head of Germany's Bundesbank, Jens Weidmann, appearing with Noyer at a meeting of the French-German Economic and Finance Council in Paris, said the review should be "tough, complete and transparent". Eurozone nations have also reached agreement on the second element of the banking union, a mechanism to wind up failed banks. However the European Parliament has refused to sign off on that deal, saying the system is too complicated and underfunded. With time quickly running out before lawmakers halt work ahead of European elections in May, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said "the negotiations with the Parliament are on the right path."