The fallout suffered by the likes of Citigroup and Merrill Lynch are only just beginning as the sub-prime mortgage implosion continues. The losses being reported by wall street banks are nothing short of astonishing and have directly caused the resignation of CEO’s Chuck Prince (Citigroup) and Stan O’Neal (Merrill Lynch).

So far, some of the largest banks have reported the following sub-prime related losses:

Citigroup: $11bn

Merrill Lynch: $8bn

Morgan Stanley: $3.7bn

Bear Stearns: $3.2bn

UBS: $3.4bn

Deutsche Bank: $3.2bn

Credit Suisse: $1bn

Wachovia: $1.1bn

IKB: $1bn

The problem experts are having in estimating the total potential losses to be incurred over the next 12-24 months is that these banks hid their exposure by using off balance sheet instruments commonly called “special investment vehicles”. But it is almost certain that losses will number in the hundreds of billions of dollars and continue devastating the global economy.

[tags]subprime, mortgage, wall street, investing, special investment vehicles, chuck prince, stan o’neal, citigroup, merrill lynch, ubs, shaun carter, morgan stanley, bear stearns, credit suisse, wachovia[/tags]