NIBC, the unlisted Dutch merchant bank backed by Chris Flowers, the former Goldman Sachs banker, on Thursday joined the ranks of European financial institutions damaged by US mortgage market mayhem when it disclosed substantial first-half losses.

The bank rushed out preliminary results, posting a €137m ($189m) first-half loss in its US asset-backed securities investment book that it said would reduce net profit to just €3m for the six-month period. That compared with €188m in the same period a year earlier.