Crédit Agricole on Wednesday said it would strengthen its finances as it posted a steep fourth-quarter loss, hurt by writedowns on its investment bank and Italian unit.

The Paris lender, France's third-largest publicly traded bank, posted a net loss of €3.98bn ($5.33bn) in the three months ended December 31, compared with a €3.07bn net loss a year earlier. Revenue fell 32% to €3.33bn in the quarter.