7  The challenges posed by regulatory developments The European Banking Authority recently published the methodology to be used for the next round of stress testing, which will begin in early 2020 and involve 50 intermediaries, of which four are Italian.
As in the past, the test is not a pass-fail exercise; its goal is instead to support the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP). The consultation phase that has just begun is intended to allow banks to prepare for the stress test.