With such pressures, the economy, unable to resume a self-sustained recovery which started in fiscal 1996, stagnated, a result that was triggered directly by factors such as fiscal restraint and cautious household sentiment. The attitude toward expenditure and investment at large manufacturing firms facing so-called “mega-competition” remained selective.
8 The extended cycle provides administrative burden relief for these institutions and recognizes the different risks that they typically pose— especially compared to the largest and most complex firms, whose failure poses the greatest risk to the real economy. Even with this change, the stress tests remain a core part of our supervision of these firms.