UBS on Tuesday reported a loss of nearly CHF20bn (â?¬13.2bn) in 2008, the highest loss in Swiss corporate history.

In the fourth quarter alone UBS lost CHF8.1bn in spite of a surprise CHF1.73bn tax benefit and a reclassification of assets that allowed the bank to avoid recognising a further trading loss of about CHF3bn.

Clients continued to withdraw large quantities of assets from the group in the fourth quarter. Net new money outflows in wealth management and business banking reached CHF58.2bn in the fourth quarter â?? bigger than the already high amount for the previous quarter. Institutional asset management saw net withdrawals of CHF27.6bn in assets. UBS again ruled out that the investment banking unit may be sold.

The shares opened 5.4 per cent higher.