European bank executives are meeting with European Central Bank president Jean-Claude Trichet on Wednesday, two days before results of stress tests of 91 European banks are to be released. The stress tests are essentially an assessment of the financial institutions' capital - to determine whether the banks would survive if, for example, a key borrower defaulted on a loan. Similar stress tests published in the United States last year are widely credited with having restored confidence in the US banking sector. But critics say the European tests are too easy.