The turmoil of the last few months has taken its toll on some of the eurozone's largest banks and four have now dropped out of the top 50 companies ranked in size of their market capitalisation by index provider Stoxx.
Societe Generale and Crédit Agricole, the French banks that were hit by worries over exposure to Greek debt and concerns over their own country's sovereign rating last month, have been replaced by retail firms in two of Stoxx's indices tracking European and eurozone companies.
Over the past 12 months, Societe Generale, which was on the Stoxx Europe 50 Index, saw its share price drop by 45%, while Crédit Agricole's stock has fallen over 34% taking it out of the Euro Stoxx 50 Index.
Italian bank Intesa San Paolo has been replaced by luxury goods brand LVMH Moet Hennessy , while Unicredit has been replaced by French chemical firm Air Liquide. Both featured in the Stoxx Europe 50 Index.
Both Italian banks' shareprices fell by 51% over the year.
Stoxx said the list of components was drawn up using the free-float available to investors and a company's market capitalisation. The changes will be effective when European markets open on September 19.
European banks are in line for rounds of capital raising in the coming months, due to regulatory pressure forcing them to be better capitalised. New share issuances by other Italian banks earlier in the year were met with a muted response from investors.
UK banks received a fillip yesterday as the Independent Banking Commission revealed changes to their structure, including ring-fencing retail arms, would be pushed back due to the current economic turmoil.
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