LONDON, March 20 Reuters Oil prices dropped to their lowest in 15 months on Monday, driven down by concern that risks in the global banking sector and a potential increase to U.S. interest rates could spark a recession that would sap fuel demand.

In volatile trading, Brent crude futures for May fell 87 cents, or 1.2, to 72.10 a barrel by 1211 GMT. The U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude contract for April was down 85 cents, or 1.3, at 65.89 before its expiry on Tuesday.

The more actively traded May futures were down 1.2 at 66.11 a barrel.

Brent and WTI earlier fell by about 3, hitting lows last registered in December 2021, with WTI sinking below 65 a barrel. Both benchmarks shed more than 10 of their value last week as the banking crisis deepened.

The slide in oil comes despite the historic deal for UBS, Switzerland39;s largest bank, to buy Credit Suisse in an attempt to rescue the country39;s secondbiggest bank.

However, banking stocks and bonds continued to plunge on Monday in a sign that investor confidence remains fragile.

After the deal was announced, The U.S. Federal Reserve, European Central Bank and other major central banks pledged to enhance market liquidity and support other banks.

The market focus is on current banking sector volatility and the potential for further rate hikes by the Fed, said Baden Moore, National Australia Bank39;s head of commodity research.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates by 25 basis points on March 22…