Dutch bankers and other finance chiefs could be somewhat more apologetic about their role in the credit crisis, former finance minister Gerrit Zalm said on Tuesday evening.

Zalm’s comment came during a tv chat show to promote his book about his life as a politician. Zalm was finance minister for 12 years and is now in charge of merging the nationalised banks ABN Amro and Fortis into a single financial services group.
‘It is obvious that the financial top echelons made big mistakes,’ Zalm said in the interview.
During his time as finance minister, Zalm brought in measures to strengthen the position of shareholders.
But current finance minister Wouter Bos yesterday launched a stinging attack on shareholders for doing ‘virtually nothing’ to head off the crisis. ‘He has a point,’ news agency ANP reported Zalm as saying.
Zalm also told the tv show that when ABN Amro is sold off in a few years time he would prefer a combination of a stock exchange flotation with a few reliable shareholders, such as pension funds.
‘It would be a real shame if we first become a new bank, are then sold to a foreign bank and then have to go through a new revamp,’ Zalm said. ‘We have to perform so well that we are too expensive to buy.’