Th central bank would have liked to prevent the takeover and break up of the ABN Amro banking empire but did not have the means to do so, central bank president Nout Wellink said on Thursday.

Wellink was making his second appearance in front of the De Wit commission, which is investigating the cause and effect of the economic crisis.
‘If I had seen a small hole, I would have said no,’ Wellink said. ‘All my instincts were against it. But I could not find that hole.’
ABN Amro was bought by a consortium of three banks in 2007 for €71bn and divided up. The Dutch operations, acquired by Fortis have since been nationalised as has Fortis Nederland.
Yes, unless
The central bank imposed the toughest possible conditions on the takeover and once they were met, could not block the deal, Wellink said. ‘The law states ‘yes, unless’,’ he said.
On Wednesday former ABN Amro CEO Rijkman Groenink was highly critical of the central bank and finance minister for not halting the sale and split up.
Wellink said Groenink should have made his feelings much plainer at the time, pointing out the management and supervisory boards of ABN Amro were officially neutral on both the consortium and Barclay’s offers.

Finance minister also criticises Groenink