The announcement, made by both ABN Amro and the Dutch government on 20 May 2025, comes after the Foundation for the Administration Office Management of Financial Institutions (NLFI) mentioned in October 2024 that it planned to minimise its stake in the bank from 40.5% to 30%.
ABN Amro was nationalised by the Dutch government in 2008, during the credit crisis, to support the financial institution. Later in 2015, the bank returned to the stock exchange, but not all its shares were immediately provided.
Now, with the government’s stake diminishing to 30%, several rights of NLFI are set to pause. Among them is NLFI’s right to pre-approval for the issue or acquisition of shares in the bank. Additionally, the financial institution will no longer have to inform NLFI regarding investments of EUR 50 million or more.
The move comes just a few months after the Dutch government decided to prevent BNPL purchases in physical retail outlets due to the multiple financial risks they posed for clients. Even if a ban would be considered unattainable because of EU regulations, the government thought that BNPL services could lead to earlier and larger debts, especially among younger consumers. At that time, the government also urged Klarna to refrain from further scaling its BNPL services in physical stores in the Netherlands.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now