London - Europe's banks need to cut costs by a fifth and simultaneously grow revenues by 15% just to get their profitability to match their cost of capital, a study said on Monday.
European banks' return on equity (RoE), a key measure of profitability, is likely to average less than half their cost of capital again this year, lagging well behind U.S. rivals as lenders struggle with high costs and weak economic growth, according to a study by consultancy EY.
That means job cuts are inevitable and restructuring is likely to gather pace this year.