SNL Financial data for returns on risk-weighted assets showed that profitability broadly increased for European banks in the second quarter of 2015, with many attaining returns of 150 basis points and above. Helped by improving asset quality, stable if pressured interest margins and market activity, some were even able to earn their cost of equity, estimated by Bain and Co. in 2013 to require an RORWA figure above 1.6.
