Trends in bank profitabilty and factors affecting it are major indicators of changes in the state of health of national banking systems. OECD statistics, published annually under the title Bank Profitability: Financial Statements of Banks, provide a unique tool for analysing developments in bank profitability in OECD Member countries. In addition to information on financial statements of banks in OECD member countries, they include data on the number of reporting banks, their branches and staff, structural information on the whole financial sector and ratios aiming at facilitating the analysis of bank profitability of OECD countries. The present publication complements Bank Profitability: Financial Statements of Banks. The methodological country notes included in this volume were prepared to facilitate the comprehension and the interpretation of the statistics and to provide a brief description of the activities of banks in each country.