Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager has commissioned research into ways of limiting banks’ from exposing themselves to excessive risks and therefore strengthening financial stability, the finance ministry said on Wednesday.

For example, the minister wants the banks to stop dealing with activities which do not directly benefit clients and which are not good for risk management, the briefing to MPs said.
Nevertheless, the minister is known not to favour separating banks into retail and business banks. This would be too dangerous for Dutch banks because of their dependency on the capital markets, De Jager says. Parliament does favour breaking up banks to reduce the risk for consumers.
The research, a follow up on measures announced last June, is being carried out together with the central bank and securities industry regulator AFM.