Stress tests in banks: A bibliometric review

Abstract This study presents a bibliometric and content‐based review of the literature on stress testing in banking, documenting its evolution from a crisis‐response mechanism during the global financial crisis to a core supervisory tool for prudential supervision and systemic risk assessment. Building on a systematic keyword search and document‐selection strategy, the final sample comprises 692 English language Scopus‐indexed records retrieved using the document‐type, final‐publication‐stage, language, subject‐area, and year filters over the period 1999–2024. The analysis applies co‐citation mapping based on more than 50 cited studies, keyword co‐occurrence, thematic mapping, trend‐topic analysis, and content‐based cluster synthesis to identify the main intellectual streams and emerging research fronts. The review distinguishes six major clusters: disclosure effects and informational value, supervisory scrutiny and bank behavior, macroprudential and system‐wide stress‐test design, climate‐related stress testing, data‐driven and machine‐learning approaches, and emerging risks including cyber and geopolitical risk. The synthesis shows that the literature has evolved from early methodological discussions to a broader debate on supervisory effectiveness, informational value, risk‐management practice, and emerging modeling gaps. Based on the cluster‐based content analysis, the paper develops a future research agenda focused on model governance, new risk transmission channels, and system‐wide stress‐test design.