Return on equity (ROE) of the banking sector in Belgium 2000-2021

Belgium's banking industry had a stable average return on equity (ROE) between 2015 and 2019, reaching values from roughly eight to ten percent. However, in 2020 the ROE of Belgian banks dropped by almost three percentage points to 5.9 percent. In 2021, the ROE of banks in Belgium increased again, exceeding 10 percent. The ROE or return on equity measures is one of several measures to look into bank profitability, in this case measuring income that returned as shareholder equity. Normally, ROEs of around 15 to 20 percent are considered good returns. That Belgian banks do not reach these numbers is probably due to low interest rates, as a consequence of the the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB). For several years, this body maintained artificially low-interest rates in an effort to increase inflation on the European continent.