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De Guindos: The Euro Area Financial Sector: Opportunities and Challenges
It is a pleasure to be here today and share my thoughts – and some policy considerations – on the opportunities and challenges facing euro area financial institutions in the current environment. Opportunities and challenges for euro area banks The profitability of euro area banks has been lacklustre for several years. Their weak profitability can not only be attributed to the weak macro-financial environment but, more importantly, to structural factors. Significant banks’ return on equity was less than 6% in the 12 months to September 2019, falling short of their cost of capital, which is estimated at around 8% ... (full story)