Sweden's major banks have enough capital to weather even more severe scenarios than what was assumed in the stress test.

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The four major Swedish banks -- Nordea, SEB, Svenska Handelsbanken and Swedbank -- all pass the crucial "stress tests" on Europe's banking sector with a comfortable margin, Sweden's financial watchdog said Friday.

Late Friday the London-based Committee of European Banking Supervisors published the results of tests done by national regulators on 91 institutions that represent 65 percent of the EU banking sector.

The stress test is designed to gauge the resilience of banks in a hypothetical scenario over two years. The scenario assumes a weak economic development, higher interest rates, falling stock markets and substantial losses on holdings of government debt.

The Swedish banks show a tier-1 ratio in the range of 8.9-10.3 percent at the end of the stress test scenario, well above the regulatory minimum level of 4 percent, the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority said in a statement.

The stress test does not change Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority’s previous assessment that the major Swedish banks are well capitalised, the watchdog said, adding that major banks have enough capital to weather even more severe scenarios than what was assumed in this stress test.

"Thus, there is currently no need for any of the major banks to strengthen their capitalisation, from a regulatory perspective", the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority said.

However, ministers in several European countries and European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet have said most banks should pass the check-up, leading some analysts to wonder if the tests are really tough enough.

Seven European banks failed the EU's stress tests for resistance to future financial crises, the CBES banking authority said on Friday.