DSB situation 'untenable', finance minister

Monday 19 October 2009

Finance minister Wouter Bos hit back at claims that DSB bank had been 'destroyed' on Monday afternoon by saying the bank's position was 'untenable'.

'DSB did not go bankrupt because no one would save it,' Bos told a news conference. 'DSB went bankrupt because it had serious problems.'

The bank was declared bankrupt on Monday morning after weekend efforts to bail it out failed.

Bos, who has come under fire from DSB founder Dirk Scheringa for refusing to agree to a €100m capital injection for the bank, said DSB had little cash, could not attract new capital and was being faced with legal claims of unknown size.

The situation was untenable, Bos said. 'That, and that alone is the reason for the bankruptcy.'

It would not have been responsible to put government money into the bank, he said. 'The [rescue] business plan was unrealistic. Every euro of government money would have gone into a bottomless pit.'

Earlier Scheringa said the bank had been destroyed and called for a parliamentary inquiry into the way the bank had been allowed to collapse.

© DutchNews.nl

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