Five years of turbulence have reduced the size of the Dutch banking sector and made it less international, according to a new report from the central bank DNB.

In 2007, the Dutch banking sector was 5.5 times the size of the Dutch economy in general, of which 40% was foreign operations. By the end of last year, the banking sector had shrunk to 4.7 times the size of the economy, due to the divestment of banking operations abroad, the central bank said.
ABN Amro was responsible for a large part of the shrinkage, following its abortive takeover and the sale of units in the US, Britain, Italy and Brazil.
At the end of 2011, just 15% of Dutch banking business came from activities outside the Netherlands.
The return on equity has also gone down from 15% to 6% as banks become less profitable, the central bank said.