Kaja Whitehouse, and Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

NEW YORK — There are growing fears that global banks are headed for a meltdown, the likes of which has not been seen since 2008. Only this time, there will be no one there to rescue them.

The biggest concerns center on major banks in Europe, where industry giants have seen their shares tumble a third in value already this year.

Shares of U.S. banks, like JPMorgan Chase (JPM) and Wells Fargo (WFC), have also taken a beating, but they are faring better amid expectations that they are dealing with fewer headwinds and that they are, in some cases, better positioned to weather the storm.

German bank Deutsche Bank is leading the doomsday procession with a stock price that has fallen below the levels hit in the darkest days of the financial crisis. The cost of insuring Deutsche Bank's debt against default has also skyrocketed, suggesting investors fear trouble ahead.

The sell-off prompted Deutsche's co-CEO John Cryan to issue a surprise memo Tuesday saying that the bank's balance sheet "remains absolutely rock-solid." The bank's New York-listed shares closed down 1% Tuesday to $15.38, a drop of 36% for the year.

Deutsche Bank CEO disputes financial stability worries

In Miami, Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein made light of falling valuations for banks at a Credit Suisse-sponsored financial services conference. "I hear this is the large-cap section. I'm glad we still qualify given what's going on," Blankfein told the crowd.

Goldman's shares, which fell 0.7% to $148.25, are down 21% this year. "It's a sober time for everybody," Blankfein said.

So how likely is it that banks will suffer another meltdown? Experts say it will depend a lot on the economy and interest rates. And in that regard, U.S. banks are better positioned than their European counterparts — at least for now.

*Interest rates: One of the biggest risks facing banks currently is persistently low interest rates. Banks earn money off the spread between what they charge for loans and the cost to borrow, or interest paid on deposits. Super low interest rates, intended to spur lending, pressure their earnings.

For European banks, the pressure is worse because they are dealing with a controversial experiment in negative interest rates in which they essentially have to pay central banks to park their money. The U.S. federal fund rates, by contrast, hoovers at closer to 0.25% and 0.5%, with expectations that it could go higher this year.

Of course, that could change depending on economic headwinds. Indeed, CNBC Tuesday reported that the Federal Reserve is telling banks to prepare to be tested for how well they might fare in a negative interest rate environment when they go through stress testing this year.

*Economic woes: Despite signs of a global economic slowdown that have helped send energy prices tumbling, the U.S. economy is still growing — albeit at a slow rate. And Wall Street executives are insistent that lending activity remains strong, and the risk of defaults low.

Europe's economic woes are much more tangled, due in part to its exposure to nations, like Greece, that are still struggling to recover from the financial crisis.

“Part of the weakness of bank stocks relates to general concerns about still high levels of private and public sector debt in much of the euro-zone," said Jennifer McKeown, a senior economist at Capital Economics in London. “More recently, those fears have been compounded by the impact on some companies and loans of the slump in energy prices and concerns over China,” she said.

Signs of a slowdown are already showing with Tuesday's German industrial production data for December offering the latest evidence that the region’s strongest economies are now suffering. The production data from Europe’s largest economy fell 1.2% in December compared to November last year, and exports were down 1.6% for the period, data published Tuesday by Germany’s official statistics office showed.

*Capital ratios: One of the biggest concerns for banks surrounds their need to increase their cash safety net whenever risk levels rise. The banks have been doing this since the financial crisis, mostly by selling risky assets and aggressively cutting costs.

But some European banks are facing renewed fears over their capital buffers due to their exposure to energy and some unexpected expenses.

Credit Suisse, for example, just said it would cut 4,000 jobs following a mammoth $5.3 billion loss in the fourth quarter — its first loss in eight years.

Deustche Bank's Cryan, meanwhile, had to reassure investors Tuesday that the bank has enough money stashed away to pay upcoming legal bills tied to regulatory probes and other allegations of wrongdoing. Cryan also sought to reassure investors that the bank has sufficient funds to pay an optional coupon to bondholders — a potential outstanding expense that has become a concern for analysts.

There's also the question about how banks will handle future fundraising needed to meet Basel liquidity rules, or rules tied to the amount of capital banks must hold.

“Many euro-zone banks still need to increase their capital to hit new Basel liquidity rules that come into force in 2019," said McKeown. "There is a fear that if they do not progress towards these targets, regulators will stop them paying stock dividends and coupons,” she said.

Hjelmgaard reported from Berlin. Follow USA TODAY reporter Kaja Whitehouse on Twitter: @kajawhitehouse