VENTURE CAPITAL POST

The largest U.S. banks and their foreign rivals are facing a tough two-step check-up of their financial health by the Federal Reserve, forcing the firms to get a far better grip on how they measure risk.

The European Central Bank is monitoring the liquidity position of the euro zone banks under its supervision on a daily basis, Italian bank Monte dei Paschi di Siena (BMPS.MI) and two other Italian banking sources said on Friday.

The U.S. Federal Reserve said on Thursday it would assume wider corporate bond spreads and a higher oil price in the most strenuous scenario it will use in next year's run of its annual check of banks' health.

Several banks required to undergo Fed Reserve stress tests to determine capacity of capital cushions on hypothetical adverse conditions.

Ten more Slovenian banks would undergo external stress tests commissioned by the Slovenian central bank.