Zurich  - UBS, the Swiss banking giant, lost more money last year than originally reported, it noted Wednesday, primarily due to a large fine it had to pay United States authorities as part of a tax settlement.

In 2008, UBS lost a record 20.9 billion Swiss francs (18 billion dollars). Last month it had reported losses of 19.6 billion francs and announced job cuts. Most of the losses came from its investment banking sector.

UBS is being investigated in the US on tax fraud allegations. The bank has paid a 780-million-dollar fine and handed over about 300 names of clients to authorities there, sparking concerns about the future of banking secrecy. UBS said it would not hand over more data, though the US is demanding information on 52,000 individuals.

In a statement in its annual report, the bank said the additional losses were also because of writedowns it took on securities being transferred to the Swiss National Bank's stabilization fund, set up as part of a bailout scheme for UBS, which was heavily exposed to troubled assets. (dpa)