France's second-largest bank said it lost 3.35 billion euros ($4.91 billion), compared with a 1.18 billion euro profit in the same period of 2006. Revenue dropped 32 percent to 3.88 billion euros ($5.69 billion), from 5.67 billion euros a year earlier.

The French bank took a 4.9 billion euro ($7.18 billion) hit closing the unauthorized positions of futures trader Jerome Kerviel, who is being held in a Paris prison and was questioned by investigators for a third time Thursday. Though it discovered the positions on Jan. 18, the losses that resulted were booked in the fourth quarter.

Shares fell more than 2 percent to close at 65.08 euros ($95.68) in Paris. The stock has lost roughly half of its value this year.

Societe Generale is seeking 5.5 billion euros (nearly $8 billion) in new capital to shore up its finances after the trading loss and 2.6 billion euros ($3.8 billion) in previously announced write-downs linked to the U.S. mortgage crisis.

The Paris-based bank announced preliminary results Feb. 11 in a prospectus for investors taking part in the drive for new capital.

CEO Daniel Bouton said in a conference call Thursday that initial contacts with investors went "very well."

Analysts say Societe Generale needs the new funds to ward off a hostile takeover. France's largest bank, BNP Paribas SA, has said it is mulling a bid.

"Societe Generale needs to succeed at this capital increase which is needed to preserve a certain independence," said Axel Pierron, an analyst with research house Celent.

For the full year, Soc Gen confirmed a net profit of 947 million euros ($1.4 billion), compared with 5.2 billion euros in 2006. Revenue fell 2.2 percent to 21.92 billion euros ($32.13 billion), from 22.42 billion euros in 2006.

The trading scandal is "an isolated event," said Pierron. "Without this event, the results of Societe Generale were not at all bad."

Without the trading losses, Societe Generale said it would have earned 4.17 billion euros ($6.11 billion) over the full year.

The scandal, however, has raised questions about the bank's control procedures.

An internal report Wednesday said bank officials failed to follow up on dozens of warnings about questionable trades.

The report commissioned by a committee of three independent board members detailed 75 warnings signs in Kerviel's exchanges, such as a trade with a maturity date on a Saturday or a missing broker name.

Analyzing what went wrong, the report said "no initiative was taken to check the truth of affirmations" provided by Kerviel, "even when they lacked probability."

The signals weren't always flagged to superiors and "when the hierarchy was warned, they didn't react," the report said.

Kerviel claims his superiors must have known what he was doing but that they looked the other way when he was making money. He is being held on preliminary charges of breach of trust, forgery and unauthorized computer activity.

Bouton vowed "total transparency" in the case in order to maintain the bank's reputation.

His offer to resign has twice been rejected by the bank's board, despite calls from President Nicolas Sarkozy for top executives to face the "consequences" of the huge losses.

The bank warned of the possibility of more write-downs in the first quarter at its asset management division as the liquidity crisis in financial markets continues.

Banks globally have written off more than $150 billion in the past half-year, including large fourth-quarter write-offs by European competitors such as UBS AG and Credit Suisse.

Societe Generale's subprime-related write-downs are bigger than the 589 million euros ($868.3 million) announced Wednesday by cross-town rival BNP Paribas SA, but are dwarfed in comparison with the $13.7 billion announced by UBS.

Soc Gen said it is proposing a 2007 dividend of 90 euro cents ($1.32) a share compared with 5.20 euros the year before.