Plans to put the Netherlands on the international map as a leading financial centre are at risk because of a lack of urgency from the government, lobby group Holland Financial Centre (HFC) says in today’s Financieele Dagblad.

‘Countries such as Ireland and Luxembourg are able to adjust their laws very quickly to remain competitive. We aren’t,’ HFC chairman Arthur Docters van Leeuwen tells the paper.
And he points out that financial sacrifices have to be made. VAT on asset management has to be scrapped but that means a €140m shortfall for the treasury, he says.
The paper says that the finance ministry ‘embraced’ the idea of stimulating the financial services sector last year and doesn’t understand the criticism. ‘We are trying to prepare things carefully,’ a spokesman tells the FD.