The american banks have not directly made loans to these members of E.U., however, the worry is that if Greece goes bankrupt the Europeans will come to us for a loan. Also, in the globalized market of today, if the sales drop in Europe, the profits will drop here consequently.
In addition, there are some worries that the American institutions have made under the table bets through their derivatives about the future of E.U; same problem that caused the 2008 debt crisis.
Evaluating these derivatives are nearly impossible and that's why they are not represented on the balance sheet of these american financial institutions.
Therefore if they win their bets nothing will have happen, but if these american banks loose, the taxpayers have to pick up the tab after they go under. The high volatility of banks during the past 3 months signals that investors are worried about the effect of European debt crisis on our banks.
Two UCLA professors, pointed out this concern through an article in the WSJ last week.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204531404577052493270860130.html
http://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?video=3000059493
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