Credit Agricole, France's biggest retail bank, plucked a new chief executive from its influential regional divisions as it posted a widely-expected fall in third quarter profit.

Dutch bancassurer ING will split in two, transforming itself into a smaller European lender in the most striking example yet of the deep changes that EU policymakers want to force on banks that received state aid.

Credit Agricole said it would repay $4.5 billion of state support this month, the last of the French banks to detail when it will reimburse government aid given during the financial crisis.

Nearly 10 more Swiss and other European banks holding wealthy US citizens accounts were identified using a tax-evasion amnesty program in the US, the Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site Wednesday.

European banks still have upside potential despite the recent rally, as the worst is over for the continent's financial institutions, analysts at financial services investment bank KBW, who upgraded the European banking sector to 'Overweight', said Monday.