Goldman Sachs Reports $103 Million Loss in Asia

Goldman Sachs Group Inc has stated that it posted a net loss of $103 million in Asia for the year 2011, compared with a $2.1 billion profit in 2010.

Its holdings in the Industrial & Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) generated a loss of $517 million, compared with a $747 million profit a year earlier.

The ICBC, the world's fifth-biggest company by market value, was acquired by Goldman in 2006. The shares of Chinese banks stocks were badly affected last year subsequent to concerns of bad loans.

The net revenues of Goldman Sachs's business in Asia fell 46 percent to $3.86 billion in 2011, down from $7.15 billion a year earlier, going by the annual filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The decline in net revenues in Asia compared with 2010 primarily reflects lower results in investing and lending, principally due to losses from public equities, reflecting a significant decline in equity markets in Asia during 2011, the company said in its annual filing.