STORY: Global financial stocks slid on Friday.
Investors sold off as a rout in U.S. regional banking shares raised concerns about credit quality and growing risks in the sector.
Market watchers are concerned about the banking sector's exposure to two recent U.S. auto bankruptcies.
They question lending standards more than two years after Silicon Valley Bank's failure.
The lender collapsed when high interest rates drove paper losses on its bonds and sparked a global bank stocks rout.
Investors are now assessing whether recent issues in U.S. credit markets will have a similar effect.
An overnight selloff on Wall Street rippled across Asia and Europe.
It also put a focus on the recent AI-led surge in broader stock markets that some fear could have created a bubble.
European banks fell almost 3%, with Deutsche Bank and Barclays sliding around 6%.
Financial firms in Asia, especially Japanese banks and insurers sank.
While the sell-off also hit Wall Street early Friday.
Big tech names fell more than banks, with Nvidia around 3% lower, which could be a sign of contagion fears.
The latest selloff came after U.S. lender Zions Bancorp said it would take a $50 million loss.
It was on two commercial and industrial loans from its California unit.
Western Alliance also disclosed it had begun a lawsuit alleging fraud by Cantor Group.
Attorneys for Cantor denied the allegations.
Such disclosures wouldn't usually impact broader markets.
But it drew attention as they followed the collapse of two U.S. companies, FirstBrands and Tricolor.
Those failures spooked investors already worried about risks in private credit.
It is a booming but less regulated market where companies have borrowed heavily over the past few years.
Friday's global stock fall comes with investors already nervous about growing U.S. China trade tensions.
