The existing US banks have survived tough economic conditions over the past half year, which can be assimilated to a real-life stress test, Bob Parker, vice-chairman at Credit Suisse Asset Management, told CNBC.
"You could actually argue that the last six months has been a period of maximum stress and therefore if a bank has survived the last six months, it's going to survive in the future, on the argument that economic stress can't get much worse than what we've seen in the last six months," Parker told "Squawk Box Europe."
Regulators in the US are carrying out "stress tests" of the 19 largest banks, including Citigroup , JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, to try to determine how much capital any big bank might need to remain afloat if the economy goes deeper into recession.
The tests will assess what happens to profitability, leverage, balance sheet and capital ratio if the US economy continues to deteriorate. The government is not likely to announce the results publicly on Friday but instead it will let the banks know what they need to do.
The terminology used in making public the results of the tests will be crucial, Parker said.
"The major problem is actually what the US Treasury is going to announce in terms of who has passed or, very dangerously, who possibly hasn't passed the stress test," Parker said.