The Motley Fool owns shares of Citigroup Inc and Deutsche Bank AG ( USA ). After surviving the Great Recession basically unscathed, First Niagara chopped its dividend in half and sold a bunch of its common stock in order to purchase nearly 200 branches from HSBC for $1 billion in 2011. Europe is essentially going through its own financial crisis, with central bankers trying to figure out how to stimulate growth and prevent deflationary pressures from turning recessionary conditions into a full-blown depression.