There is nothing quite like a global pandemic to test resiliency in the banking industry. After years of coping with low interest rates and compressed margins, European banks faced the economic fallout of Covid-19 lockdowns.
For example, the 27-nation EU bloc saw a 6.2% decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in 2020, according to the World Bank, with Spain and Italy suffering the biggest drops of 10.8% and 8.9%, respectively. The largest EU economies, Germany and France, also saw contractions of 4.9% and 8.1%, respectively. Ireland was the only one of the 27 that experienced economic expansion, recording a 3.4% rise in GDP.
