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Olli Rehn, European commissioner for economic affairs, told the Financial Times policymakers are considering ways to prevent the institutions from failing as a result of exposure to the bloc's debt crisis.
His comments came as France and Belgian had to help bailout financial services group Dexia by breaking it up and separating its toxic assets into a "bad bank", according to Belgian finance minister Didier Reynders.
Mr Rehn told the news provider "there is a sense of urgency" among policymakers to shore up the banks, although they are not yet agreed on the details of how they will do this.
The Stoxx Europe 600 index gained 1.6 per cent by 10:08 BST, while Germany's Dax added 1.9 per cent, French benchmark the CAC 40 was up 2.2 per cent and the FTSE 100 advanced by 1.7 per cent in London.
Posted by Chris Weaver
