However, a series of unanticipated global developments beginning in the second half of 2014— including a prolonged decline in oil prices, a sizable appreciation of the dollar, and financial market turbulence emanating from abroad—ended up having adverse implications for the outlook for inflation and economic activity in the United States, prompting the FOMC to remove monetary policy accommodation at a slower pace than we had anticipated in mid-2014.
Despite negative rates throughout last year, the net interest income (NII) of euro area banks increased in percentage of assets, and their return on equity went up from 3.5% in 2014 to 5.7% in 2015 – which corresponds to a real return as inflation was zero.