According to Statistics Netherlands, 1,536 companies were declared bankrupt in 2021, the NL Times reported. That number was only slightly lower in 1990 at 1,527. The stats office has been keeping track of this data since 1981. The number of bankruptcies fell in almost all sectors of industry. Most bankruptcies happened in trade, but that is also the sector with the most companies. The number of bankruptcies in the catering industry more than halved last year compared to a year earlier.
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The Netherlands will go into a strict lockdown over the Christmas and New Year period to try to contain the highly- contagious Omicron coronavirus variant, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday, Reuters reported. All non-essential shops and services, including restaurants, hairdressers, museums and gyms will be closed from Sunday until Jan. 14. All schools will be shut until at least Jan. 9. "The Netherlands is again shutting down. That is unavoidable because of the fifth wave that is coming at us with the Omicron variant," Rutte told a televised news conference.
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Dutch energy company Anode Energy plans to file for bankruptcy, the company said on Wednesday, the third in the Netherlands this year to become insolvent due to high energy prices, Reuters reported. Director Eric van Teeffelen said that the company, which supplies around 14,000 retail customers, had been forced to make the decision after its energy supplier could no longer meet its obligations. "We were forced to purchase on the spot market -- hedged prices are no longer available -- and the current prices are much higher, we can't endure it," he said.
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Dutch cooperative Rabobank said on Monday it had been ordered by the Dutch central bank to fix its customer due diligence practices and that it is facing a "punitive enforcement procedure," Reuters reported. In a statement, Rabobank said it had received an instruction from De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) on Oct. 12 to remedy deficiencies in its compliance with laws against money laundering. It said it was too early to say whether the procedure would result in a fine.
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More and more Netherlands residents have foreign savings accounts, the NL Times reported. This was reported by financial comparison site Geld.nl based on its own research. In recent months, in particular, foreign banks active in the Netherlands have seen their products become more popular. According to Geld.nl, this is because they offer relatively high interest rates. “If you look at the savings accounts, the top five with the highest interest rates are all accounts from foreign banks,” said expert Amanda Bulthuis of Geld.nl.
Cryptocurrency exchange Binance was providing its services in the Netherlands without the required registration, the Dutch central bank (DNB) said on Monday, in the latest regulatory hurdle for the company, Reuters reported. The company was not in compliance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorist Financing Act, the De Nederlandsche Bank said, adding the warning applies to Binance Holdings Ltd and its entities that provide crypto services in the country.
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After Ben & Jerry’s, a Vermont-based ice-cream company and wholly owned subsidiary of global consumer-products giant Unilever that prides itself on its progressive politics, announced Monday that it is cancelling its license with its Israeli affiliate, a move that amounts to a boycott of Israel, a wave of legal and regulatory issues for its Dutch-American parent was triggered, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Royal Dutch Shell on Tuesday confirmed it will appeal a Dutch court ruling ordering the energy company to accelerate its carbon emission reduction target, Reuters reported. Shell had previously said it will appeal the May 26 ruling ordering it to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030 from 2019 levels, significantly faster than its current plans. The Anglo-Dutch company also said it will seek to ramp up its energy transition strategy in the wake of the ruling.
Inside the prime minister’s office in the Caribbean nation of Sint Maarten, the walls of paradise were closing in. In the former Dutch colony renowned for fish stews and rum cocktails on Great Bay Beach, the coronavirus pandemic had ground tourism to a halt, sparking a financial crisis akin to the aftermath of a hurricane. By December, Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs said, public coffers were so low that she didn’t know how she could continue to cover the government payroll, the Washington Post reported. She needed a financial lifeline.
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Amsterdam has displaced London as Europe’s biggest share trading centre after Britain left the European Union’s single market, and picked up a chunk of UK derivatives business along the way, according to data published on Thursday, Reuters reported. Stock exchanges in the Dutch capital traded 9.2 billion euros ($11.15 billion) a day in January, compared to London’s 8.6 billion, according to the Cboe exchange, which operates in both cities.
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