The Council of State will later on Monday give its verdict in the case brought by hundreds of shareholders in SNS Reaal against the government’s decision to nationalise the financial services group.

Finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem expropriated all the company’s outstanding shares and bonds, meaning investors lost all their money. In total, some €1.3bn is involved.

The Dutch investors’ association VEB, the FNV trade union and private investors all made a formal protest to the Council of State about the decision.

Alternatives

They say there were alternatives to nationalisation because private equity companies were interested in the bank. In addition, they dispute the valuation of the company’s property finance arm.

One Greek bond holder in SNS Reaal told DutchNews.nl her family had opted to put the money they raised from selling a small shop into bonds in a Dutch bank because of the Netherlands’ ‘strong economy, high rating and reliability’.

Marina Hila, a university professor from Crete, said: ‘We chose SNS and we lost €130,000 almost overnight… Yet how could we have imagined a country at the heart of Europe, especially one that is home to the International Court of Justice, would violate our right to our property in this brutal way.’

The Council of State will give its verdict at 16.00 hours.