European banks were rocked by another turbulent session on Wednesday, plunging as much as 10% amid concerns over the global fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank last week and the dramatic fall of Credit Suisse, which lead to several bank stocks, including Credit Suisse, being temporarily halted from trade.
By midday, European banks were down 6.66% in London.
The Paris Stock exchange also took a big hit as the French bank Société Générale fell by 10.6% and BNP Paribas by 10.3%. This marks the biggest decline for Société Générale since 24 February 2022 and since 16 March 2020 for BNP Paribas.
Switzerland’s second-largest bank, Credit Suisse, which has been plagued by a series of scandals, saw its main shareholder announce on Wednesday that it couldn’t provide extra financial help. The group has been struggling to recover from a number of highly publicised financial scandals.
Bank stocks have already been shaken following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank. The historic failure triggered mass panic despite unprecedented intervention from the US authorities to contain spillovers and reassure the markets.