The association of Dutch banks NVB is to talk to Amsterdam mayor Job Cohen about extending loans to brothel owners, the Volkskrant reports today. ‘It is a very difficult situation,’ director Hein Blocks told the paper, warning against too-high expectations.

There were several main objects to giving financial backing to the sex industry, he said. Not least of these was the difficulty in getting accurate financial information about brothels’ real earnings, he said.
Cohen wants to involve the banks in financing the sex industry as part of his efforts to weed out criminality. Around one-third of Amsterdam’s red light district windows face closure because the owners have lost their licences.