The Federal Reserve Board has made few friends among bank risk managers with its latest industry-wide stress test. While observers welcome the exercise – which will now be carried out on an annual basis, in line with a final Dodd-Frank Act rule issued by the Fed on November 22 – those at the coal-face complain about the test's timing and the extra workload. Twelve of the banks included have not taken part in previous Fed stress tests.

One risk manager at a mid-sized US bank says gathering the