February 16, 2008 (LPAC)--The world's top banks may have to write off as much as $203 billion in new losses on top of the $152 billion in writedowns already taken, Swiss banking giant UBS said in an analyst's report. The bank said the banks may have to write off as much as another $120 billion on their CDO holdings, another $50 billion for losses in SIVs, $18 billion for mortgage-related securities and $15 billion for LBO loans. "Risks are increasing and spreading and the liquidity situation is still far away from normal," the report said.

On Feb. 14, UBS revealed it had additional $26.6 billion exposure to American mortgages, on top of the $27.6 billion in exposure to such paper it had already admitted, plus a $2.9 billion exposure to monoline insurers. The bank took a $13.7 billion writedown in the final quarter of 2007, after a $4.4 billion writedown in the third quarter, giving it a net loss of $4 billion for the year.