Wachovia, unveiled third quarter pre-tax losses of $23.9 billion, reflecting the battering the company took during the financial crisis.
Around $18.8 billion of the loss was down to goodwill impairment – write-downs on securities and loans.
The figures also reflect a 24% drop in total assets under Wachovia’s management from December 2007 to September 2008. This was driven by investors, rattled by the collapse of banks such as Lehman Brothers and Washington Mutual, withdrawing their money, the Financial Times stated.
According to the Guardian, the loss is the biggest to be announced by a bank since the credit crunch began, almost doubling the $12 billion loss revealed by the Switzerland’s biggest bank, UBS, in the first quarter of 2008.
The net loss for the third quarter of the year compares with profits of $1.62 billion – or 85 cents per share – in the same period of 2007.
Wachovia had already sought a savior amid the crisis and a takeover by California-based bank Wells Fargo is currently under consideration by shareholders.
D.C.