Western Europe's best bank 2017: Lloyds Banking Group

It has been a year of catharsis for western Europe’s banking sector. Long-term problems in two of the continent’s biggest and most-fragmented banking markets – Germany and Italy – came to a head. 

But towards the end of the year, some of the most dangerous sores in those markets appeared to be healing, with immediate crisis points passed and signs that Europe’s banks and regulators were beginning to address their industry’s fundamental shortcomings. As summer 2017 approached there was even hope that the ECB’s Bank Recovery and Resolution Directive could work, after the bail-in of Banco Popular’s subordinated debt and equity and its rescue by Santander.

These issues must sometimes have seemed quite remote to a bank like Lloyds Banking Group, western Europe’s best bank – even if one of the firm’s biggest macroeconomic risks for the coming years is entirely European in character. Italian bank stocks, indeed, suffered more than UK banks in the days following the Brexit vote. 

Lloyds has the UK’s economy to thank – at least in part – for its success, although the UK economy can also thank Lloyds.