All it took was the threat of a $14 billion fine against Deutsche Bank for the word “contagion” to rear its ugly head.

Global markets have been shaken up in recent weeks over fears that Deutsche Bank, a symbol of German financial might and Europe’s fourth-largest biggest bank by assets, cannot absorb a fine of that magnitude. The German government said flatly that it would not bail out the bank, leading to what some called market “panic” that Deutsche Bank could face a messy Lehman Brothers-style collapse and set off a global financial crisis.

Among investor concerns are the high amount of borrowing the bank uses to support its asset base, the difficulty in valuing many of the assets that make up its capital cushion, and the high-risk trading strategies embraced by some of its clients.

Those fears seem wildly overblown. “The bottom line is, I think the Deutsche Bank issues will be resolved and there won’t be any contagion episode,” said Hal S. Scott, a professor at Harvard Law School and the author of the recent book “Connectedness and Contagion.” “But it’s a wake-up call. Are we prepared if this ever happens again? The answer is ‘no.’”