Research by the ECB that takes into account the effect of the improvement in macroeconomic conditions and asset prices 4/6  BIS central bankers' speeches  resulting from our monetary policy measures shows that the overall impact of our measures on bank profitability was positive.14 Let me also underline that there remains ample room for a large part of the financial sector to improve profitability by increasing efforts to improve operational efficiency via organic costcutting: euro area banks’ cost efficiency has not improved since 2010 and, by standard metrics, compare unfavourably with many of their international peers.15 Finally, what about the effects on institutional investors?
*  *  *  Ladies and Gentlemen,1 It is just over two years ago that Commissioner Almunia and I spoke at the launch of the joint compilation of the integrated euro area accounts by Eurostat and the ECB. Only a couple of months later financial turmoil broke and turned into arguably the biggest financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression.