Swiss banking giant UBS suffered a net loss of 4.4 billion Swiss francs (€2.7 billion) in 2007 after losing billions in the US mortgage crisis.
The loss - the bank's first full-year loss - compared with a profit of 12.3 billion Swiss francs in 2006 and was in line with forecasts after a warning two weeks ago.
UBS management warned that it expected 2008 to be a difficult year for the firm and the industry as a whole.
UBS has suffered from investments linked to US sub-prime mortgages, lent to US homebuyers with patchy credit ratings.
In the fourth quarter, its writedowns linked to the US housing market amounted to $13.7 billion, giving a total of $18 billion for 2007. This made UBS the third-worst hit bank after Wall Street giants Merrill Lynch ($19.4 billion) and Citigroup ($21.1 billion.
UBS also revealed $26.6 billion in exposure to other risky US mortgages known as Alt-A mortgages. These are of higher quality than sub-prime loans but are also considered risky.
