The combined profit of the Netherlands’ banks fell 39% in the final quarter of last year, compared with the year earlier period, the Dutch central bank said on Wednesday.

The banks booked a combined profit of €1.7bn. ‘Dutch banks are also suffering from the disturbances on the financial markets,’ the central bank said in its quarterly statement. ‘The influence of that turbulence is reflected in the results.’
Compared with other European banks and insurance companies, Dutch financial institutions had lost a lot of value partly due to the closeness of the big Dutch groups to the US economy, the bank said.
The bank also said credit rating agencies such as Fitch and Moody’s had a prominent role in the troubles. ‘An important lesson for a beginner is that they should not blindly follow the rating of such agencies,’ the bank said.