French-Belgian lender Dexia has finally agreed to sell its troubled FSA bond insurance unit to Assured Guaranty for $722 million.

However, Dexia stated in a release that the latest deal with Assured Guaranty doesn't include FSA's asset management business, which has a $16.5 billion portfolio of risky debt.

The announcement came as Dexia posted a €1.54 billion ($1.98 billion) third-quarter net loss, compared with a €439 million net profit a year earlier.

The bank's earnings were beaten-up by a €2.2 billion loss from the financial crisis, including €460 million in losses at FSA and €1.7 billion from other credit and market effects.

Revenue fell 78% to €315 million from €1.45 billion.

The firm received a €6.4 billion cash injection in September, led by the governments of Belgium, France and Luxembourg.

Dexia said it would refocus on its core businesses in public, retail and commercial banking while simultaneously launching a 15 percent cost savings plan, with 300 million euros of savings already identified.