ROME, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Financial sector reforms put into place in the wake of the global financial crisis 15 years ago have so far helped protect European banks from being hit harder by the ongoing banking crisis, analysts said. But the latest round of problems have still not fully run their course.
European stock markets have just ended their second consecutive week of high volatility. On Friday, the week's final session, shares were mostly lower, with the blue-chip indexes in Paris and Frankfurt down 1.7 percent each, while in Milan shares slipped by 2.2 percent, and in Amsterdam they retreated by 1.6 percent.
Over the past ten sessions, European shares broadly fell seven times, with banking sector stocks the main reason for the ups and downs.
The current banking sector fragility was sparked by the collapse of two regional banks in the United States -- Silicon Valley Bank in California and New York's Signature Bank. Soon after, Switzerland's Credit Suisse shed nearly a quarter of its value in one day, March 15.
But markets were called earlier this week when UBS, Credit Suisse's main rival, acquired the troubled lender for around 3 billion U.S. dollars.
Produced by Xinhua Global Service
