Fortis Bank, the former Belgian banking arm of troubled financial group Fortis, has reported a loss of €20.6 billion for 2008 owing to the group's break-up and losses on toxic assets.
The bulk of the loss, which was roughly in line with a previous estimate, came from the 'negative impact of €12.5 billion' relating to the parent company's carve-up by the Dutch, Belgian and Luxembourg governments.
As part of a bail-out of the group, the Belgian state took over Fortis Bank and is now in the process of selling a 75% stake to French banking group BNP Paribas.
Fortis Bank suffered a further €9.7 billion in losses on toxic assets and various other writedowns.
The Fortis parent company's Dutch banking business contributed €700m to Fortis Bank during the first nine months of 2008 before it was taken over by the Dutch state.
