The ABN AMRO bank has reported a loss of 2.6 billion euros in the first six months of this year. 

In the same period last year the bank made a profit of 2.9 billion euros. This year’s loss is mainly the result of writing off bad mortgages. As yet there appears to be no light at the end of the tunnel, as losses in the second quarter exceeded those in the first.

The Dutch state-owned part of ABN AMRO, nationalised in October 2008, is faring slightly better: it made a modest profit of 77 million euros in the first half of this year. The profit over the first six months of last year was 500 million euros.