The figures appear in a Bank of Portugal document entitled ‘Recent Developments in the Portuguese Banking System’, focussed on the final quarter of 2015.
According to the document “profitability of the banking system resumed positive values, after being negative between 2011 and 2014.”
Return on own equity in the sector went from a negative 19.2% in 2014 to a positive 2.8% last year, while return on assets went from a negative 1.3% to a positive 0.2%.
The figures exclude the effects of the resolution of Banco Espírito Santo and the continuing fallout from its collapse on its successor institution, Novo Banco. But according to the Bank of Portugal, even if the full impact of this were included, both ROE and ROA improved enough in 2015 to be in the black.
The main reason for the improvement is the “flow of imbalances” - potential losses - in 2015, which according to the supervisor “fell to about half the value of 2014” despite “remaining at high levels”.