Global Trade Alert

On February 1, 2013, the Minister of Finance took a decree to expropriate shareholders and creditors of SNS REAAL and SNS Bank, making the state the sole owner of the financial company.
On March 4, 2013, the Minister of Finance announced that expropriated shares and debt will not be compensated.
 
The nationalisation is accompanied by several support measures, namely:
nEUR1.9 billion recapitalisation of SNS Bank in the form of ordinary shares;
na EUR300 million recapitalisation of SNS REAAL in the form of ordinary shares
na bridge loan of EUR1.1 billion to SNS REAAL to secure its short-term funding needs
 
Regarding potential trade distortions, the EC concludes that: 'By granting a selective advantage to SNS Bank, measure A2 creates an uneven playing field and distorts competition. As subsidiaries and branches of foreign banks are active on the Dutch market for financial products, the measure is also likely to affect trade between Member States (par. 58, letter from the EC to the Netherlands, Brussels 19.12.2013)
 
 
A state measure in the GTA database is assessed solely in terms of the extent to which its implementation affects the extent of discrimination against foreign commercial interests. On this metric, the state aid proposed here is discriminatory