An overview of the data on European banks from the lead financial regulator surveys a sector still beset by strife that has been decades in the making.The common equity tier 1 (CET1) ratio, increased by 80 basis points to 13.6 per cent between June 2015 and June 2016, the European Banking Authority said over the weekend."The 'fully loaded' CET1 ratio was 12.1 per cent in June 2015 and 13.2 per cent in June this year," the EBA said."The continuous increase in common equity is the main driver for the improvement in banks' capital position. Supervisory restrictions on dividends have also boosted retained earnings, despite the low profitability environment."The non-performing loans ratio decreased to 5.4 per cent in the second half of 2016 from 6.5 per cent at the end of 2014. "While there are signs of potential improvements, asset quality is still weak compared to historical figures and other regions."More than one third of EU jurisdictions have bad loan ratios above ten per cent. EU banks reported an average return on equity of 5.7 per cent as of June 2016, down by more than 100 bps compared with June 2015 (although it has improved compared to 2015 and 2014)."Profitability remains a source of concern in the EU banking system which is confirmed by the fact that the RoE remains below banks' cost of equity."