By Ben Berkowitz
AMSTERDAM, July 2 (Reuters) - A Dutch homeowners foundation said on Thursday it provided hundreds of files to regulators that it claims offer evidence of inappropriate lending by privately held DSB Bank.
The news comes a day after the regulator, the Authority for Financial Markets, fined DSB for its lending and advisory practices.
While the fines were small -- 120,000 euros ($169,300) -- and DSB plans to appeal them, they drew attention because the lending happened while former finance minister Gerrit Zalm was finance chief at the bank.
Zalm, a long-serving finance minister credited with restructuring the Dutch economy, was brought in by the government last year to revive the nationalised ABN AMRO and Fortis Bank Nederland which it eventually wants to privatise.
An ABN AMRO spokesman said Zalm would not comment on the foundation's submission to the regulator nor the fines.
The Stichting Hypotheekleed (Foundation for Mortgage Suffering) said it submitted the files before the AFM announced its fines, but the AFM did not use the material as part of its review.
The AFM was unavailable to comment.
The foundation, set up last year by lawyer Bert Oude Middendorp, says it represents a few hundred people, roughly equivalent to the number of files that it sent to the regulator.
Their participation has been solicited through the foundation's website, which is largely directed at the lending practices of DSB.
DSB said it would be better if the foundation pursued an individual approach to resolving claims instead of acting as a group.
Officials from the Dutch central bank declined to comment.
DSB Bank is well known in the Netherlands for being an aggressive mortgage lender. On its website it touts 15-year loan rates anywhere from 25 to 85 basis points lower than its much larger national competitors.
(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Erica Billingham) ($1=.7087 Euro) Keywords: DSB/HOMELOANS (ben.berkowitz@thomsonreuters.com; +31 20 504 5011; Reuters Messaging: ben.berkowitz.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
AMSTERDAM, July 2 (Reuters) - A Dutch homeowners foundation said on Thursday it provided hundreds of files to regulators that it claims offer evidence of inappropriate lending by privately held DSB Bank.
The news comes a day after the regulator, the Authority for Financial Markets, fined DSB for its lending and advisory practices.
While the fines were small -- 120,000 euros ($169,300) -- and DSB plans to appeal them, they drew attention because the lending happened while former finance minister Gerrit Zalm was finance chief at the bank.
Zalm, a long-serving finance minister credited with restructuring the Dutch economy, was brought in by the government last year to revive the nationalised ABN AMRO and Fortis Bank Nederland which it eventually wants to privatise.
An ABN AMRO spokesman said Zalm would not comment on the foundation's submission to the regulator nor the fines.
The Stichting Hypotheekleed (Foundation for Mortgage Suffering) said it submitted the files before the AFM announced its fines, but the AFM did not use the material as part of its review.
The AFM was unavailable to comment.
The foundation, set up last year by lawyer Bert Oude Middendorp, says it represents a few hundred people, roughly equivalent to the number of files that it sent to the regulator.
Their participation has been solicited through the foundation's website, which is largely directed at the lending practices of DSB.
DSB said it would be better if the foundation pursued an individual approach to resolving claims instead of acting as a group.
Officials from the Dutch central bank declined to comment.
DSB Bank is well known in the Netherlands for being an aggressive mortgage lender. On its website it touts 15-year loan rates anywhere from 25 to 85 basis points lower than its much larger national competitors.
(Reporting by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by Erica Billingham) ($1=.7087 Euro) Keywords: DSB/HOMELOANS (ben.berkowitz@thomsonreuters.com; +31 20 504 5011; Reuters Messaging: ben.berkowitz.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2009. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.