Banking system risk in the United States of America and Europe

Having started in the end of 2007, the recent financial crisis forced many banks into bankruptcy and triggered multiple bail-outs as well as the set up of guarantee funds and liquidity injections. One was under the impression of watching 'Domino Day' with the two differences being that banks were the falling stars of the show and that the plan according to which the banks were supposed to go down was not known even to the people being part of the game. I shed some light on this plan and examine the amount of contagion risk being present in the American and European banking systems. For this purpose, a sample of 15 US and 15 European banks is examined and several extreme value theory techniques are applied. The empirical evidence indicates that the American banking system is more prone to spillover risk than the European banking system. Despite particular cross-Atlantic differences, systemic risk has increased substantially on both continents over time. The evidence provided is calling for regulators' and bank managers' attention and action.