Banks' Toxic Debt Losses Continue to Mount
NEW YORK (
) -- Large U.S. and European banks have lost a total of $1.04 trillion since the beginning of 2007 on securities and bad loans, and could see that number more than double by the end of next year, according to a published report.
The $1.04 trillion loss figure is based on
Reuters
research and company annual reports and regulatory filings. International Monetary Fund estimates predict a surge to $2.5 trillion by the end of 2010, roughly split between losses on securities and loans,
Reuters
reports.
Losses at U.S. financial institutions, including
Bank of America
(BAC) - Get Report
,
Fannie Mae
(FNM)
and
Freddie Mac
(FRE)
, which have taken the bulk of the hit, are expected to rise to $1.6 trillion. Losses at European banks are expected to rise to $737 billion, the IMF says.
Citigroup's
(C) - Get Report
total losses from writedowns on toxic assets and troubled loans compose nearly 11% of the industry's total losses, making it the biggest loser so far during the financial crisis,
Reuters
says. Citi was the only company to have losses in the triple digits, totaling $114.3 billion.
Wachovia
, acquired last year by
Wells Fargo
(WFC) - Get Report
, and Merrill Lynch, also acquired by BofA, ranked second and third on the list, with total losses so far of $77.4 billion and $63.7 billion respectively.
HSBC
(HBC)
and BofA ranked fourth and fifth on the list with losses to date totaling $63.5 billion and $58.5 billion, respectively.
JPMorgan Chase
(JPM) - Get Report
ranked No. 14, with losses totaling just $25.1 billion. JPMorgan also acquired
Washington Mutual
, which had losses of $41.8 billion. WaMu last year became the largest bank failure in U.S. history.
Bank stocks were mostly rising early Thursday.
Written by Laurie Kulikowski in New York.
