What Europe’s banks earned, how they spun it, and what they said about Brexit

Europe’s biggest banks have been reporting their first-half earnings over the past two weeks. The results aren’t pretty. Profits and share prices are down across the industry, with earnings eroded by low or negative interest rates across the continent. Many lenders are still struggling to restructure their businesses, and continue to face legal fines for past misdeeds. And then there’s Brexit, and all the uncertainty that it brings to the UK economy, London’s position as a world financial center, and much else besides. Needless to say, it took all the powers of persuasion that CEOs could muster to put a good spin on their banks’ latest results. Here’s what they had to say… (VIEW LINK) (Source: Eshe Nelson, Quartz)