In my view, to enhance credibility in the system the comprehensive assessment exercise should be based on three main principles:  BIS central bankers’ speeches  5  •  First, the appropriate course of action should follow a “going concern” approach;  •  Second, the methodologies used in the asset quality review and in the stress test exercise should be well tested and proven.
•  Finally, backstops must be established before they are needed. In Portugal, we have already in place a backstop mechanism to provide temporary capital injections for banks that might not be able to reach the requirements on time through marketbased solutions. By way of conclusion, I would like to come back to where I started.