European banks begin the day up but Monte dei Paschi plummets

The DJ Stoxx 600's banks sector index began trading in the blue come Monday morning following the release, on Sunday, of the ECB and EBA stress test results, albeit with heightened volatility to be seen in some of the main publicly listed lenders.

The worst performer by a wide margin was Italian lender Monte dei Paschi di Siena, whose stock was plummeting by 15.75% as of 08:20. German lender Commerzbank's shares were moving in the opposite direction, rising by nearly 6%.

Ireland's permanent TSB Holding is cratering by 24% after the stress tests revealed it will need to raise fresh capital.