… but profitability is too feeble by international standards Yet having a stable capital base alone isn’t enough to ensure sustained resilience. Banks need to generate sufficient profits as well. Let’s start by looking at Germany’s major banking multinationals. Compared with their total assets, these institutions have slightly improved their operating income, which is up from 1.31% in 2009 to 1.51% in 2015.
However, the major banks saw their return on total assets dip again for the first time last year. While it is true that the provisions made by one major institution had a negative impact on the return on total assets in Germany, if we exclude that particular institution, the remaining group of banks saw an increase in return on total assets, at 0.35%.