Dutch lender Volksbank fined for inadequate risk management

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch state-owned lender de Volksbank on Thursday said it had been fined 20 million euros ($20.83 million) by the Dutch central bank for inadequate risk management and failure to prevent money laundering.

The bank said it had acknowledged the shortcomings, which were found in the period between 2018 and 2023, and had taken steps last year to structurally improve its risk management.

Volksbank incorporates several smaller Dutch banks such as SNS and ASN that were nationalised in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial crisis.

The bank last year said it would simplify its organisation, bringing all businesses under the ASN brand name, while eliminating around 750 jobs and closing almost half of its 600 local offices.

The Dutch government has repeatedly said it aimed to re-privatize the bank, but has so far not presented any specific plans to do so.

The much larger Dutch banks ING and ABN Amro have settled central bank complaints and criminal investigations into shortcomings in their money laundering control systems in recent years, with ING paying 775 million euros in 2018, and ABN Amro paying 480 million euros in 2021.

Rabobank is still under investigation.

($1 = 0.9603 euros)

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)