The 19.7 billion Swiss francs for 2008 by UBS, the biggest bank in Switzerland, is the highest loss ever reported by a Swiss group. For the fourth quarter alone, the loss figures stood at 8.1 billion Swiss francs.

These actual figures reported by UBS exceed the Reuters' poll estimates of an 18.7 billion francs loss for the year, and a 7.1 billion Swiss francs quarterly loss.

In October, UBS received a Swiss government bailout of 6 billion Swiss francs. At the time of the aid, UBS was also given the option of transferring a part of its distressed assets to a fund being maintained by the Swiss central bank.

The high losses at the Swiss bank giant resulted primarily from it being knocked by bad debts. The bank made nearly 47 billion Swiss francs of writedowns, saying it had suffered new 58.2 billion Swiss francs depletion at its esteemed wealth management division.

To counteract the losses, the bank has planned some "cautious" cost-cutting measures, which include nearly 1,600 more layoffs at its investment bank. In addition, the bank plans to focus most of its attention on its core business within the country.

With regard to outlook for 2009, the bank said: "UBS has had an encouraging start to the year. However, financial market conditions remain fragile as company and household cash flows continue to deteriorate."