摘要：Within the current European economic landscape, plagued by financial, economic and national debt crises, a vivid debate has been sparked in the academic and professional environment regarding the way in which the European banking sector can contribute to the achievement of a long term sustainable economic growth. The debate is even more entailed since the financial crisis started in the banking sector and the main contagion happened through banks operating regionally and globally. Within this context, our paper aims at providing an overview of the main characteristics of the European banking sector and of the challenges that it will face in the post-crisis period. This represents a first necessary step in our opinion, for the better understanding of the way in which the European banking sector can contribute to the achievement of a long term sustainable economic growth. In order to achieve this we used a qualitative analysis combined with a series of empirical data and a series of own calculated indicators that underline some of the characteristics of the EU member states banking systems
