US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said the Central Bank’s periodic bank stress tests have made the US financial system more resilient.

Contrasting the current state of US banks with their tattered condition in 2009 after the historic financial crisis, Bernanke said the sector’s rebound was positive for the broader recovery given the importance of credit to economic growth.

“The resilience of the US banking system has greatly improved since then, and the more intensive use and greater sophistication of supervisory stress testing, as well as supervisors’ increased emphasis on the effectiveness of banks’ own capital planning processes, deserve some credit for that improvement,” Bernanke told a conference on financial stability sponsored by the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank.