Volksbank will still be in state hands in the coming years | Financial

Wopke Hoekstra (Finance) writes this to the House of Representatives on the basis of a report by NLFI, which De Volksbank manages for the State, which owns all the shares.

‘Regrettable’

De Volksbank ‘still needs time’ to better position itself for a future decision, writes Hoekstra. The situation has not changed compared to about five years ago, when NLFI also gave the bank a few years to do so. “I find it regrettable that the bank’s situation does not allow a decision about its future,” Hoekstra concludes.

A decision about the state bank is in any case up to the next cabinet, because the House of Representatives has declared decisions about De Volksbank controversial. This means that the outgoing cabinet is not allowed to make major decisions about it.

Sick working atmosphere

De Volksbank has had a turbulent time: it lost three board members in a year. After CEO Maurice Oostendorp retired more than a year ago, financial director Pieter Veuger was fired due to a sick work atmosphere. Then operating officer Mirjam Verhoeven resigned out of dissatisfaction.

Last week, Veuger demanded a severance payment of €2.8 million from the state bank at the court in Utrecht. One report spoke of bullying at the top of the state bank. In March, Supervisory Board President Jan van Rutte announced his early departure.

Negative interest

In February, De Volksbank announced that it would cut 400 to 500 jobs over the next two years. That is about 10% of the current staff. To compensate for the costs at De Volksbank against the declining income, the company wants to work ‘more efficiently and effectively’. The savings and mortgage bank is suffering a lot from the negative interest rate at the European Central Bank. In combination with the corona crisis, profits fell by more than a third last year.

NLFI therefore foresees a difficult time for De Volksbank. Implementing a new strategy, a reorganization and the plans to also grow are called a ‘challenging combination’.

The bank itself says in a response that it is happy that it can work in peace on the implementation of the new strategy: “We experience the time that we receive from our shareholder as an important boost.”

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