TAIPEI (AFP) -- One of Taiwan's leading investment houses, Mega Financial, rejected reports Tuesday it faced massive losses on its exposure to the troubled U.S. sub-prime mortgage market although it would lose some money.

Mega Financial Holding Co. said it expected to sustain a loss of up to 250 million dollars (7.58 million U.S.) on a worst-case basis.
""The worst-case scenario for us is that we may write off a loss of around three to five percent of our five billion dollars in CDO (collateralized debt obligation) holdings,"" said company spokesman Simon Dzeng.
Dzeng said there was no reason to believe that Mega Financial would have to write off the full five billion dollars worth of CDOs.
He was responding to a Commercial Times report which said the company could face such a loss from its sub-prime exposure, accounting for 28.5 percent of its estimated 2007 net profit.
Growing problems in the U.S. home loan market have led to a credit crunch globally, with several top financial institutions, including U.S. investment house Bear Stearns, having to take substantial losses on their exposure.
Many banks and mortgage providers lent money to people with weak credit histories at the height of the U.S. housing boom in 2005 and 2006 but as interest rates have risen, lots of these loans have gone bad.