Finance minister Jan Kees de Jager is strengthening his grip on banking sector regulation, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Friday.

The paper bases its claims on an unpublished strategy document ‘which has come into its possession’.
The document, entitled ‘regulation at a distance’, says the minister should be able to place extra demands on the central bank and financial sector regulator AFM if he feels a particular situation warrants it.
This will not apply to individual banks but would cover concerns about credit levels, for example, the paper says.
The document also states that the finance minister will be given more power to intervene in the central bank’s budget. At present, he can only approve or reject the DNB’s spending plans.