Fortis Bank interested in Icesave – paper

AMSTERDAM, Oct 10 (Reuters) – Fortis Bank Nederland, one of the Fortis units that the Dutch state nationalised, signalled an interest in taking over Dutch retail clients of Iceland’s Landsbanki, a newspaper reported on Friday.

‘An opportunity to take over such deposits does not arise often,’ Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool quoted Fortis Bank Nederland Chief Executive Jan van Rutte as saying, referring to Icesave, the Dutch savings activities of Landsbanki.

‘So if the possibility presents itself, we would certainly look into it,’ he said.

Iceland has seized control of three of the country’s biggest banks — Kaupthing, Landsbanki and Glitnir — and Dutch clients of Icesave have been unable to withdraw money since Monday.

The Dutch government on Thursday promised the roughly 108,000 Icesave depositors that they will get their money back ‘one way or the other’ for up to 100,000 euros ($137,200) per person.

The Netherlands maintains that Iceland must honour its obligation to guarantee the first 20,887 euros and has dispatched a delegation of civil servants to Iceland.

(Reporting by Niclas Mika, editing by Richard Chang) ($1=.7287 Euro) Keywords: FORTISBANK/ICESAVE

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