World's biggest bank losses

For many of the world’s big commercial banks, 2008 was a rotten year. The 12 largest losses were made by American and European outfits, four of them German. The Royal Bank of Scotland, Citigroup and Wells Fargo suffered a combined loss of more than $160 billion, a sum larger than the GDP of Egypt. Three of the biggest losses were made by banks from Switzerland and Belgium, two fairly small countries. Firms from France and Japan, countries with big banking sectors, are conspicuous by their absence from the list of losses. The three most profitable banks—Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Spain’s Santander—together made around $55 billion last year. ... (link)