7/29  The profitability data based on individual financial statements of business in Spain are also highly cyclical, even more so than those from the consolidated statements. This reflects the greater severity of the crisis in Spain than in other economies in which Spanish banks had exposures and highlights the benefits of diversification. Also apparent is a marked recovery in recent years, despite which in 2018 both ROE and ROA were still lower than before the crisis. The breakdown of the return on assets shows that the main determinant of the current low profitability of business in Spain compared with the pre-crisis period is a weakening of net interest income expressed as a proportion of assets, or net interest margin. This fall, concentrated between 2009 and 2013, was from 1.4% to 0.9%. The indicator then steadied at around 1% of total assets. The fall was attributable to several factors. 8/29  One factor is the increase in the relative share of non-performing assets, i.e. those that do not earn interest, such as NPLs or foreclosed assets. Specifically, between 2007 and 2013 the NPL ratio of business in Spain rose by nearly 13 pp. It then fell gradually, against a background of decreasing loan volume, and at mid-2019 stood at 5.3%, more than 8 pp below the ceiling reached in 2013. However, this ratio is still well above its precrisis level. Foreclosed assets have fallen by 50% from the high reached in 2011, but still amounted to nearly € billion in June 2019.
Ksenia Yudaeva: The policy of the Bank of Russia for ensuring financial stability in an environment of economic recovery Speech by Ms Ksenia Yudaeva, Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia, at the Forum on Financial Stability "The policy of the Bank of Russia for ensuring financial stability in an environment of economic recovery", Moscow, 13 April 2017. * * * Dear colleagues, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to the Forum on Financial Stability, which has by now become a tradition. In the last few quarters we have witnessed the beginnings of fundamental change in both the economy and financial markets. The economy has adapted to balance of payments shocks and started on a path of recovery, and the level of volatility in financial markets has gone down significantly. The relatively calm climate we now find ourselves has led to a decrease in risks that had been building up, but such a climate could nevertheless bring in new risks and lead to the creation of so-called bubbles in certain markets. The Bank of Russia must continue to be on the alert, and ready to adopt the necessary measures as they are called for. And so, through our analysis of the potential for implementing macroprudential instruments and macroprudential stress testing, that is exactly what we are doing now. Myself and a number of my colleagues will be delving deeper into these issues, and I would like to take this opportunity to highlight a few myself.