Barclays, the largest exchange traded fund (ETF) provider, joined other banks today in announcing writedowns due to the subprime mortgage issue.  The losses incurred were actually less than expected, as Barclays Group announced the $2.7 billion writedown, reports Jane Wardell of the Associated Press.  The bank said there was no risk of further writedowns of the residential mortgage-backed securities collateralized debt obligations, but they did not comment on potential writedowns from other parts of the business.

Barclays’ (BCS) announcement comes after a series of news reports on bank writedowns.  Yesterday, HSBC (HBC) reported a $3.4 billion impact from the subprime meltdown.  Bear Stearns (BSC) said it will have a $1.2 billion writedown.  Goldman Sachs (GS) had a $2.4 billion and Morgan Stanley (MS) warned it could have as much as $6 billion for this quarter.

Barclays is a large bank with different departments.  It’s ETF arm is the largest provider of ETFs with $338 billion invested in 141 ETFs.