After a crisis in the banking sector forced Ireland to draw external financial assistance, the European Union (EU) said on Thursday that stress tests on European banks will be conducted annually starting next year. A spokeswoman for European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services Michel Barnier said that the tests will be conducted annually from the beginning of next year by European Banking Authority, a new governing body to be set up next year. The spokeswoman said that the methodology deployed in the tests will be improved, but did not disclose any further details. With the debt crisis threatening confidence in the whole financial sector, the EU decided to conduct a public stress test on banks in March and published the results in July. Among the 91 banks in 20 European countries, only 7 banks failed to pass the test, which did not include any Irish ones. Some analysts questioned the results at the time, saying that it underestimated the serious state of Europe's banking sector. 