German Bank Profits Rise to the Top
The ECB recently published bank profits for the first quarter of 2023 for various European countries. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that German banks are notorious for their low profits, the figures are surprising as they have the highest net profits of their European peers at €12.5bn. In fact, they are some 15% ahead of French banks at €11.1bn. This is the first time that the ECB’s profit figures have put Germany ahead of France in terms of bank profits. It seems that German banks are particularly big beneficiaries of rising interest rates.
To pour some water into this whine: ECB profit numbers are difficult to interpret and sometimes even problematic, as we first mentioned in 2019.
Nevertheless, let’s enjoy our top spot for now.