The takeover of ABN Amro by a consortium of three banks is bad for the Netherlands and weakens its reputation as a financial centre, Bernard Wientjes, chairman of the employers organisation VNO-NCW said on Tuesday.

‘We regret the fact that the biggest and oldest bank in the Netherlands is being taken over,’ Wientjes told a trade conference in The Hague.
‘I only hope one thing, that the shock is so great it never happens again,’ Wientjes said.