economy To faster change

Months before global stock markets were roiled by volatility in August, U.S. financial regulators asked some major banks to test how their balance sheets would fare under extremely adverse conditions and present plans for raising emergency capital if the need arose, say people familiar with the matter.
One scenario that at least two banks were asked to run, said two of these people, was a fall 2008-type stock market rout. The banks were asked to present plans, these people added, for raising emergency capital in case a sudden need cropped up.
The summertime tests were a follow-up to a larger round of balance-sheet assessments that the country's 19 biggest banks undertook as part of the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review process that the Fed mandated in March, according to someone familiar with the matter.