Ben KingBusiness reporter
Getty ImagesEuropean stock markets recovered some ground after a warning of fraud from two US banks triggered a sell-off in banking shares around the world.
Two US regional lenders, Western Alliance Bank and Zions Bank, said on Thursday that they had been hit by either bad or fraudulent loans, sparking fears of problems in the wider sector.
Some of the UK’s biggest banks, including Barclays and Standard Chartered, saw their share prices fall more than 5% on Friday morning, before recovering slightly before the end of the day’s trading.
The FTSE 100 index of leading shares had dropped about 1.5% at one point before coming back slightly to close 0.9% lower.
The US S&P 500 benchmark was marginally up after Donald Trump appeared to indicate that high tariffs on China may not be “sustainable”.
On Thursday, Zions Bank said it would write off a $50m loss on two loans, while Western Alliance disclosed it had started a…


