This week Europe has fallen deeper into the credit crunch. With multi-billion euro bailout packages, Germany, Britain and the Benelux states have saved banks from collapsing.

Hypo Real Estate, Fortis, Bradford & Bingley. Three European banks nearly collapsed in the course of just two days on Sunday and Monday, showing that the Wall Street financial crisis is pulling European companies into its pincers at an ever-faster clip. With trust between banks waning, analysts believe Europe is threatened with a serious credit crunch.

 The logos of Europe's crisis banks: The crisis is accelerating here and pulling an increasing number of institutions into its pincers. In order to protect the financial system from collapse, governments across Europe are being forced to intervene. Britain, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands all began spectacular rescues at the start of the week:

• the British government nationalized large parts of mortgage lender Bradford & Bingley on Monday, taking over some €63 billion ($90.6 billion) in bad loans;

• the governments of Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands nationalized large parts of wobbling finance giant Fortis;

• in Germany, the government is providing a massive loan package together with a consortium of banks to prevent the collapse of the Munich-based Hypo Real Estate.