Moving quickly to put an end to the constant spill of red ink, the Wachovia Corporation, the banking giant, booked an $8.9 billion loss and slashed its dividend in its first quarter under new leadership.

Investors had been bracing for large losses since the bank named Robert K. Steel, a former Treasury under secretary, as chief executive, to help steer it through the housing crisis. At the time, the bank said that it anticipated a loss of $2.6 billion to $2.8 billion on top of an unspecified merger-accounting charge.

But Mr. Steel had every incentive to kick off his tenure with a "kitchen sink" quarter as he tries to clean up the bank’s problems.

Wachovia reported a second-quarter loss of $8.9 billion, including a $6.1 billion write-off that is tied to overpaying for several deals. The bank set aside another $5.6 billion to cover current and future losses. It also cut its quarterly dividend by 87 percent, to 5 cents a share, in order to conserve about $2.8 billion a year.

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