The four main Dutch banks now account for less than half the Dutch mortgage market, as pension funds and insurance companies step in, according to market research group IG&H.

Banks are being squeezed out especially on mortgages of between €200,000 and €300,000, the research, quoted in the Volkskrant, shows. The big banks still control 60% of the market for large mortgages.

ING, ABN Amro and Rabobank now control 48% of the total market. Insurance company providers have taken 36%, small banks 7% and foreign mortgage providers almost 4%, IG&H said.

Before the credit crisis began in 2008, the big three banks controlled 75% of the mortgage market.