Message : Required fields With the earnings season in full swing in Europe, it is interesting to see the impact the gradual economic reopening is having on various sectors. One area where results have been almost unambiguously positive is the banking sector, where excluding those banks with idiosyncratic issues, results have continued on the broadly positive trend seen since the initial COVID-19 lockdowns. European and UK banks have so far echoed the positive tone from the US banks earlier this month; by-and-large they have beaten consensus expectations across the board on earnings, provisions, capital ratios and forward guidance and reinforced the resilience they displayed in the depths of the global pandemic.