AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The Dutch central bank would not immediately block any foreign takeover bid on a Dutch bank, if that situation would occur, its president Olaf Sleijpen said in an interview with Dutch financial daily FD published on Friday.
“Without going into any individual case, if there is a takeover bid we will look at it rationally,” Sleijpen said.
Bloomberg earlier this week reported that Belgian lender KBC Group was mulling a potential acquisition of Dutch rival ABN Amro.
Even though KBC said it was currently only exploring an acquisition of insurer Ethias NV, the report sparked the question whether Dutch authorities would allow a foreign takeover of a major bank.
“We support the capital markets union and feel the banking union needs to be finalized,” Sleijpen said. “That means that you can’t suddenly say: ‘wait a minute’ if it happens to involve a Dutch bank.”
(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by GV De Clercq)
