San Francisco-based bank Wells Fargo reported insurance revenuesdropped 9 percent in the fourth quarter as the company reported anet loss of $2.55 billion.

Wells Fargo, which owns the insurance brokerage firm Wells FargoInsurance Services Inc., reported yesterday that insurance revenuedropped $33 million in the fourth quarter of last year to $337million compared to the same period in 2007.

For the year, revenues rose 20 percent, or $300 million, to$1.83 billion.

The bank said its cross selling to commercial insurance and bankclients rose 18 percent on a quarter to quarter basis.

John Strumpf, president and chief executive officer of WellsFargo said in a statement that the quarterly loss was the result ofadding $8.1 billion to credit reserves primarily to cover costsregarding its acquisition of Wachovia.

Wells Fargo emphasized that while other banks were not lendingit remained opened for business, reporting full year revenues wereup 7 percent to $42.23 billion while fourth quarter revenue wasdown 4 percent from a year ago to $9.82 billion.