In the United Kingdom (UK), the Bank of England (BoE) announced the key elements of its 2017 stress test in March. The 2017 stress test includes two stress scenarios. Alongside the annual cyclical scenario, the BoE is for the first time running an additional exploratory scenario.
The aim of this additional scenario is to consider how the UK banking system might evolve if recent headwinds to bank profitability persist  Page 6 of 9  or intensify. It includes weak global growth, persistently low interest rates, and stagnant world trade; it has a seven-year horizon to capture these long-term trends.