Some 46,000 jobs in the financial services sector have been lost since the start of the economic crisis in 2009, according to calculations by the NRC.

This means 24% of financial service jobs have been lost, almost double the rate that employment levels in general have fallen, the paper says.

Banks have been hardest hit, with a 31% reduction in employment levels. In 2000, Dutch banks had a total workforce of 130,000 but this is now around 90,000. Cost cutting and increased automation have led to the job cuts.

The Financieele Dagblad calculated in May that financial sector employment had gone down 18.5%. It based its calculations on corporate annual reports.