(BRUSSELS) - The European Banking Federation offered reassurance on Monday that the European banking sector was solid and that depositors' savings were safe as bank shares plunged across the region.

"The global economy is facing an unprecedented crisis which is generating a certain degree of anguish due to the financial failure of some major banks," the trade body said in a statement.

Assuring that "the European banking system will weather the storm," the association stressed "that in EU countries retail deposits are insured."

"In all (EU) member states they are covered by the domestic deposit guarantee scheme which forms an integral part of the prudential safety net," it said.

Banking shares were tumbling across Europe on Monday as governments in Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Luxembourg and The Netherlands found themselves forced to offer hastily arranged state support for a handful of ailing banks.

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