Amsterdam - The Dutch division of Fortis Bank NV has suffered a net loss of 18.5 billion euros (24.96 billion dollars) in 2008, according to the bank's annual report released on Thursday.

Fortis said 17.7 billion euros of the loss results from one-time write-offs on its share in RFS Holdings.

RFS is the holding that took over ABN Amro. Fortis Bank Netherlands had an 33.8 per cent ownership in RFS.

Some 922 million euros of the loss were caused by exposure to the Madoff fraud affair.

Fortis' operating profit for all of 2008 amounted to 604 million euros, compared to 1.2 billion euro in 2007.

In October, former Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was split up in a Belgian and Dutch division and nationalized by the respective governments.

The Dutch division comprises all banking activities of Dutch Fortis bank and Dutch ABN Amro bank.

Earlier this month, the Belgian government and French BNP Paribas agreed on the terms of the sale of the Belgian banking activities to the French bank. (dpa)