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were hit by worries over exposure to Greek debt and concerns over their own country's sovereign rating last month, have been replaced by retail firms in two of Stoxx's indices tracking European and eurozone companies.