Concerns about the banking system persisted in European markets on Friday, with Germany’s biggest bank Deutsche Bank falling 8.5 percent after a sharp rise in the cost of insurance against default risk. According to AFP and Reuters, the German giant said it would buy back $1.5 billion in second-tier bonds maturing in 2028.

Markets fell 1.74% in Paris, 1.66% in Frankfurt and 1.26% in London after being in the red earlier in the week following the takeover of Credit Suisse by its rival UBS.

A sharp drop in banking stocks hit European indexes on Friday as worries about the stability of the financial sector intensified, and Deutsche Bank fell as the cost of insuring the German bank’s debt against default risk rose to a four-year high, data showed. Reuters.

“Deutsche Bank has taken Credit Suisse’s place, really, as the next weak link, probably unfairly,” said David Goebel, associate director of investment strategy at Evelyn Partners.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index fell 1.4%, but still posted weekly gains thanks to a strong rebound earlier this week.

Shares of UBS Group AG and Credit Suisse AG fell 3.6% and 5.2%, respectively, after Bloomberg News reported that they were among the banks under investigation by the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which is investigating whether financiers to Russian oligarchs to avoid crimes. sanctions

European banks fell 3.8 percent and were poised for a third week of declines after the collapse of mid-sized U.S. lenders and turmoil at Credit Suisse highlighted rising risks for banks amid tightening financial conditions.

Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International fell 7.9% after Reuters reported that the European Central Bank had pressured the bank to divest its highly profitable Russian business.