ABN AMRO will be promoted as a major private banking player
again, after the Dutch government announced plans to revive the
long-standing Netherlands financial services brand.
ABN was acquired and broken up by the ill-fated consortium bid
headed by Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) last year. But after
one consortium member, Fortis, ran into difficulties amid the
financial crisis this summer, a major part of the Fortis Belgium
and Luxembourg operations was sold to BNP Paribas.
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At the same time, the Dutch government effectively nationalised
most of the Fortis/ABN operations in the Netherlands in September
in a €16.8 billion ($21 billion) rescue.
Finance minister Wouter Bos declared the Hague government had
decided to move ahead with the merger of Fortis Bank Netherlands,
the nationalised Dutch arm of the Belgian-Dutch financial group,
and its share of the ABN AMRO assets.
ABN to be main brand
This new banking entity, to be headed by Gerrit Zalm, a former
Dutch finance minister, is to remain in state ownership until at
least 2011 before being sold or floated on the stock exchange.
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By GlobalDataThe re-launched bank will use ABN AMRO as its main brand. The
merger of Fortis Bank Netherlands with the ABN AMRO assets would
cover retail banking, private clients and the asset management
businesses. Fortis Insurance Netherlands and Fortis Corporate
Insurance, both also nationalised, will remain separate and sold
off later.
“Together we will get a big bank that can compete with the big
boys,” Bos declared, in published remarks.
“If we can also succeed in getting a bank that can not only
serve customers at home but also abroad, there will be good times
for this bank.”
However, independent analysts believe the Dutch state may have
to spend another €5 billion to €6 billion to fully rebuild ABN’s
former global network, which prior to its takeover covered 60
countries.
Private banking implications
According to senior ABN private bankers, the combination of
ABN’s retail and commercial business units in the Netherlands
together with ABN’s international private bank will be brought into
one organisation with the Dutch Fortis retail bank, commercial,
merchant and private banking businesses.
On the private banking side, only the Dutch, Guernsey and
Curacao units of Fortis private banking will be joining ABN – the
rest of the Fortis private banking activities are scheduled to
become part of BNP Paribas.
In private banking in Asia, ABN will operate independently, with
no tie-up to Fortis private banking, as well as a continuation of
the separate position ABN has had all along from RBS Coutts.
One senior ABN private banker said, “Now that the Dutch Ministry
of Finance has shown its hand, pressing through with the goal of
having a large Dutch financial player, we can start clawing back
some lost ground in the market.
“And it is probably a nice position to have, as quite a few of
our competitors have a huge number of issues to sort out,
especially as RBS and Citigroup look vulnerable.”
Also in the Netherlands, Dutch private bank Van Lanschot has
acquired, on undisclosed terms, ING’s private banking operations in
Curacao. Assets under management at the Curacao business were less
than 1 percent of the €57.5 billion under management by ING Private
Banking.
Van Lanschot is looking to boost growth outside of its home
market of Belgium and Netherlands.
