What's going on?

On Friday, Europe turned another page on the era of �too big to fail� as the Irish government sold off a portion of its shares in Allied Irish Banks, an Irish lender that the government bailed out and took over in 2010 at the peak of the eurozone debt crisis.

What does this mean?

From the UK to Cyprus to Germany to Portugal, European governments spent tens of billions of euros rescuing nearly 40 separate banks that were on the verge of bankruptcy during the financial crisis. Recently, as some of these banks have started to turn a profit again, some governments have begun to sell their holdings of the bailed-out banks to private investors. Ireland joined their ranks on Friday, selling off 25% of AIB�s shares in an initial public offering (IPO). The Irish government has said it hopes to sell the rest over the next few years.

Why should I care?

For markets: As Europe�s economy strengthens, investors have been more willing to buy European bank stocks.

Stronger economic growth means that businesses should be able to sell more goods and services to consumers, while everyday people should also be enjoying a stronger job market and rising wages. For banks, that means more entrepreneurs will need loans and more consumers will need banks to help finance the purchase of homes or cars, both of which are usually good for banks� profitability (and one reason why investors have pushed up the stock prices of European banks).

The bigger picture: Many European banks are turning a corner, but some are still in deep trouble.

Just this weekend, two small Italian banks were forced into bankruptcy after Europe�s banking regulator determined that they were overburdened by bad loans they had made. While quickening economic growth in Europe should help reduce the volume of banks� bad loans, it�s worth remembering that banks in some parts of Europe are still struggling under the weight of loans they have previously made.