Netherlands: SNS Reaal Restructuring, 2013

In February 2013, the Dutch minister of finance nationalized SNS Reaal, a financial conglomerate that was primarily composed of SNS Bank and Reaal Insurance, after the firm proved unable to remedy a large capital deficit caused by losses in the real estate portfolio of SNS Bank. Alongside the nationalization, the minister of finance announced a EUR 3.7 billion (USD 5 billion) rescue package that included a capital injection and significant restructuring. The goals of the restructuring plan were to isolate the real estate portfolio in a "bad bank" and to sell the insurance subsidiary. The state transferred shareholding responsibilities to NL Financial Investments (NLFI), an independent entity that exercised shareholder rights and oversight in nationalized financial institutions. NLFI oversaw the sale of both the real estate portfolio and the insurance subsidiary to private parties. In 2015, the state announced that it would wind down the holding company of the conglomerate (renamed SRH N.V). On January 1, 2018, the stand-alone bank that resulted from the restructuring became known as de Volksbank. The Dutch state remains the sole shareholder of de Volksbank, with NLFI citing a lack of market interest in a sale.