THE NETHERLANDS: BAD LOANS ON THE RISE

ABN Amro, a Dutch bank majority-owned by the Dutch government, is conducting the second review in two years of its lending and investment banking practices after a dramatic increase in bad loans.
The bank’s profits in 2019’s final quarter were down 43 percent year-on-year and the bank’s share price lost 6 percent last Wednesday after the weak results were announced.
The bank’s struggles emphasize the strain placed on Europe’s banks by negative interest rates.
“Pressure on deposit margins are increasing” due to the European Central Bank’s sustained negative rates,” one analyst noted.
In January, ABN told customers that it would charge 0.5 percent interest on all deposits greater than €2.5 million and cut interest rates on almost all other accounts to zero.