European banks are among the biggest victims of the alleged Madoff fraud after the rapid expansion of divisions helping clients borrow to invest in hedge funds.

Britain’s HSBC and Royal Bank of Scotland, France’s BNP Paribas, Italy’s UniCredit and Santander and BBVA of Spain as well as Japan’s Nomura Holdings all confirmed heavy losses for themselves or their clients on Monday, even as US banks appeared to have little or no exposure.