Author Description

This paper documents trends in key bank variables over the 2003-2016 period for the set of banks that the ECB directly supervises as of January 1, 2017. A range of variables is considered that together indicate to what extent banks have been moving in the direction of better performance and greater stability. We examine variables related to bank profitability, activity mix, size, balance sheet composition, and loan impairment. The identified trends provide a mixed picture of whether banks have been moving in the right direction since the start of the crisis.