Fortis warning of greater losses

Fortis Bank was rescued by the Belgian government in October 2008

Fortis Bank, which is owned by the Belgian government, has warned that it will report bigger-than-expected losses for the last three months of 2008.

It has said it will report a net loss of about 6bn euros ($7.6bn; £5.3bn), having predicted a loss of 4bn to 5bn euros in January.

The bank has already reported losses of 14.1bn euros for the first nine months.

It blamed the additional losses on the bank no longer being able to recuperate 1bn euros of deferred taxes.

The company stressed that its Tier 1 solvency ratio was still about 10% at the end of 2008.

Tier 1 is a ratio used to measure whether banks have enough capital.

Fortis Bank is the Belgian part of the former Fortis Holdings and is now 99.93% owned by the Belgian state.