French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire says the bankruptcies of US banks Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) and Signature Bank do not threaten French financial institutions.
The German financial regulator BaFin issued a similar reassuring message on Monday morning.
“I don’t see any risk of taint, so we don’t issue any special warnings to local lenders,” said Le Maire. The minister said France’s banks and financial system are “solid” and can withstand shocks.
Eurogroup president Paschal Donohoe said the eurozone has “minimal” exposure to the fallout from the US banking collapse. He pointed to the strong regulation in Europe to deal with such issues.
Problems in the United States at SVB, partly due to high-interest rates, already led to concerns about other financial service providers on the stock markets on Friday. On Monday, the stock markets fell sharply again, with significant negatives for financial funds.
