European banks on track for worst day since August on tariffs worries

Erste Bank AG

04/03/2025 13:36

** Shares in European banks fall on worries about tariffs on Europe after U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China took effect

** Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump floated a 25% tariff on cars and other goods from the European Union

** The STOXX 600 banks index .SX7P falls 3.5% at 1332 GMT, on track for its worst day since August, and is among the worst performers of sectoral indices on the pan-European STOXX 600 .STOXX index

** Julius Baer BAER.S, Credit Agricole CRAP.PA, Societe Generale SOGN.PA, ING Groep INGA.AS and BNP Paribas BNPP.PA slip between 2.1% and 3.4%, while Commerzbank CBKG.DE, UBS UBSG.S and Deutsche Bank DBKGn.DE fall between 3.9% and 5.8%

** Spain's Sabadell SABE.MC, BBVA BBVA.MC, Santander SAN.MC are down between 5.3% and 5.8%

** "I think investors are concerned about the impact on the financial health of European exporters, given the looming tariff threat," Johann Scholtz from Morningstar says

** Scholtz adds that this could lead to higher defaults on loans granted to exporters, across the eurozone but especially Germany could be hard hit

** "They are the victim of the general weak sentiment or weak markets," Lukasz Janczak from Erste Group says

 (Reporting by Ozan Ergenay, Anna Banacka)

 ((ozan.ergenay@thomsonreuters.com)) ((anna.banacka@thomsonreuters.com))