Fears Euro Debt Crisis May Spread To France
c) Sky News 2011, 0:44, Saturday 12 November 2011

Fears of eurozone debt contagion have hit France - as Italy and Greece moved to change their governments in a bid to stabilise their battered economies.Leading economists have warned the £261bn worth of Italian debt that French banks hold leaves them dangerously exposed to the spreading financial woes.

That figure represents more than half of all European bank lending to Italy.

British banks, on the other hand, could also be affected by a French crisis due to the amount of French debt the UK holds.

The French fears come after ratings agency Standard & Poor's accidentally sent out a message saying it was downgrading the country's prized "AAA" credit rating.The error stood for an hour and a half before it was retracted by the agency - but fears spread across financial markets that it could be a sign of things to come