Nicholas Soames: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the main areas of (a) strength and (b) weakness of the financial services industry. [35625]

Mark Hoban MP; Financial Secretary to the Treasury: The Government in conjunction with the Bank of England and the Financial Services Authority (FSA) are closely monitoring the strength and vulnerability of the UK's banking sector.

The Bank of England regularly publish Financial Stability Reports and in their latest one set out in detail their assessment of the resilience of the UK financial system. The Government assessment of UK financial institutions is also informed by international reports by the IMF and OECD such as the Global Financial Stability Report.

The key financial institutions have also been subject to a rigorous stress testing exercise assessing the strengths and weaknesses of UK institutions and ensuring that they are well capitalised. In addition, the UK is working closely with the IMF on a system-wide stress test of the UK financial sector as part of the IMF Financial Sector Assessment Programme (FSAP) for the UK. This report is expected to be published in July 2011.