Deutsche Bank share plunge causes heavy losses for whole sector

Madrid, Mar 24 (EFE).- Shares in several large European banks declined sharply on Friday amid ongoing stock market uncertainty following the bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank and the collapse of Credit Suisse this month.

Shares in Deutsche Bank, Germany’s largest, fell by 14% at one point on Friday, before closing with a 5.53% drop. Commerzbank, the country’s second largest, fell by 5.54%.

Deutsche Bank’s stock plunge came after the bank announced that it plans to redeem $1.5 billion of subordinated debt on 24 May, ahead of its due date in 2028.

The bank insisted it has “all the required regulatory approvals” for the decision, but the announcement sent the banking sector into the red.

Shares in Italy’s Intesa and Unicredit were down 2.41 % and 4.06 % respectively, Nordea (Norway) 9.76 % and Dutch ING 3.73 %.

BNP Paribas and Société Générale, both in France, fell 5.27% and 6.13% respectively, while in Spain, the two biggest banks, Santander and BBVA, fell 3 % and 4.43 % respectively; CaixaBank, 2.95 %; Sabadell, 4.28 %; Bankinter, 5.38 %; and Unicaja, 4.06 %.

The bankruptcy of Silicon Valley Bank and the collapse of Credit Suisse, which was bought by UBS, have triggered market uncertainty about the financial sector and generated a loss of confidence in banks “rather than a banking crisis”, said Pedro del Pozo, investment director of the Mutualidad de la Abogacía, in a market report. EFE

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