“Shares in eurozone banks are poised for their highest end of the year in more than a decade after the lenders weathered falling interest rates and promised record returns to shareholders.”, — write: epravda.com.ua
Shares in eurozone banks are poised for their highest end of the year in more than a decade after the lenders weathered falling interest rates and promised record returns to shareholders. The Moscow Times writes about it. The Euro Stoxx Banks Index, which tracks the biggest lenders in the currency bloc, will end the year above 142 for the first time since 2010, and will rise by more than a fifth in 2024. Profits for European lenders have grown over the past three years thanks to higher interest rates. But even as central banks began cutting rates this year, fears of pressure on lenders’ net interest margins have not weighed on share prices.Advertisement: UniCredit has been the best-performing big bank in the euro zone, with shares up more than 50% for the year. Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo rose more than 40%, and shares of Germany’s Deutsche Bank rose more than 30%. BNP Paribas was among the sector’s worst performers, with shares down nearly 8%. Despite subdued deal activity and muted lending growth, 2024 has been one of the most profitable years for European banks thanks to higher rates and structural hedging. As a result, according to analysts at Citigroup, the average return on capital in the sector was about 13%. Advertisement: Recall: For years, the largest banks in the European Union have been quietly developing a new payment system that could eventually allow customers to abandon the use of Visa Inc. cards. and Mastercard Inc.