Third-quarter net profit at BNP Paribas more than halved due to higher provisions tied to the financial crisis, France's biggest bank by market capitalisation said on Wednesday.

French bank Societe Generale reported an 83.7 percent fall in third-quarter net profit on Monday but said it was strong enough to weather the global financial crisis.

Belgian banking and insurance group KBC received 3.5 billion euros ($4.4 billion) from the government to boost its capital on Monday in the fourth financial sector injection by Belgium in as many weeks.

European nations scrambled on Sunday night to prevent a growing credit crisis from bringing down major banks and alarming savers as troubles in financial markets spread around the world, accelerating economic downturns on three continents, the New York Times reported.

BNP Paribas, France's biggest listed bank, reported a 34 percent fall in second quarter net profit on Wednesday, although the earnings were slightly ahead of the consensus forecast.

The SEC issued its emergency ruling against naked short-selling Tuesday to build investor confidence regarding market information, SEC Chairman Christopher Cox told CNBC.

U.S. securities regulators issued an emergency rule Tuesday to limit certain types of short selling in major financial firms, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

More Wall Street firms, facing the specter of tougher regulation and slumping capital markets, will follow the path of Bear Stearns and be forced into the arms of deposit-rich commercial banks, veteran banking analyst Charles Peabody told Reuters.

Tomorrow a Société Générale special committee will unveil a long-awaited report into how one 31-year-old trader was able to build up €50 billion in long positions and then give everyone the impression his huge bets were low-risk.