European bank shares sink on concerns over US sector

Shares of Europe's biggest banks tumbled on Friday after trouble at a regional US lender sparked a Wall Street rout on the sector in the United States.

Deutsche Bank shares were down nearly 10 percent after the Frankfurt stock market opened, while Germany's second-largest lender Commerzbank tumbled by more than six percent.

In London, Barclays and HSBC shed more than five percent while NatWest, Standard Chartered and Lloyd's were down around four percent.

After the Paris stock exchange opened, Societe Generale shares dropped 5.5 percent while BNP Paribas lost 4.4 percent and Credit Agricole tumbled 3.6 percent.

The four largest US banks lost $52 billion in market value on Thursday after shares in SVB Financial, a major lender to the tech industry, sank by 60 percent.

The Silicon Valley bank took a beating after announcing a stock offering and offloading securities to raise much-needed cash as it struggles with falling deposits.

It revealed that it had lost $1.8 billion following the sales.

In a bid to prevent a run on the bank, SVB CEO Greg Becker asked clients to stay calm during a conference call Thursday, Bloomberg News reported, citing someone familiar with the matter.

Shares of the biggest US bank, JPMorgan Chase, ended the day down 5.4 percent on Thursday.

Bank of America and Wells Fargo both fell 6.2 percent, while Citigroup was down 4.1 percent.