The International Monetary Fund's October report on global financial stability named nine systemically important banks projected "to generate below-sustainable returns in 2019."

The nine are New York-based Citigroup Inc., Italy's UniCredit SpA, France's Société Générale SA, Germany's Deutsche Bank AG, the U.K.'s Barclays Plc and Standard Chartered Plc and Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc., Mizuho Financial Group Inc. and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. In terms of asset size, the group comprises one-third of global systemically important banks, and their returns are not expected to reach the 8% cost of equity.

The IMF attributes the miss to "high operating costs, low operating efficiency, and highly competitive home markets, exacerbated in several cases by weak information technology systems."

That said, G-SIB health overall seems better, according to the report, with "substantial progress in addressing legacy issues and restructuring challenges."