Failed Dutch bank DSB should not have been given a licence to operate, the commission that investigated its collapse said on Tuesday, pinning the ultimate blame on bad management of the bank. The tough report will put added pressure on central bank president Nout Wellink, who has been heavily criticised for his work since the start of the financial crisis. The Dutch central bank, known as the DNB, issues banks their operating licences. DSB, which got its license in 2005, failed after an Oct. 1 TV interview with a lawyer for a DSB mortgage holders' foundation.

The Netherlands, home of the "Dutch model" welfare economy, is set to become the next European country to move toward fiscal conservatism in the wake of general elections Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. Fears over the budget deficit have eclipsed concerns about immigration and the growing reach of Islam, after a series of warnings from domestic economists and the European Union about a looming debt problem. For decades, the Dutch government has been led by either the Christian Democrats or the Socialists.

Nationalised Dutch bank ABN Amro forecast more than €1 billion in second-quarter charges today, offsetting profitable results from both its units in the first quarter, The Irish Times reported. The Dutch government nationalised the local operations of former Belgian concern Fortis in October 2008, including both banks, amid a liquidity crisis. It has spent more than €26 billion on the nationalisation and subsequent support, making it one of the world's costliest rescues due to the credit crisis.

Frankfurt-based aluminum company Almatis Group Friday put its operations in the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to restructure the company's $1 billion debt load, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. In court papers filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan, Almatis said the proposed restructuring would slash its debt by more than $600 million to $414.6 million. The company has already filed a reorganization plan, which has the support of more than two-thirds of the holders of Almatis's first-lien debt.

A bankruptcy court judge on Friday approved Lyondell Chemical Co's plan to exit bankruptcy, signaling the near-end of a 15-month process during which the chemical maker fended off a takeover and settled hundreds of environmental claims and a creditor lawsuit, Reuters reported. Judge Robert Gerber gave his assent to a plan in which Apollo Management, Ares Management and Access Industries will provide financing. Lyondell filed for bankruptcy in January of 2009 under the weight of about $24 billion in debt.

Dubai International Capital said Tuesday that it will continue with its plan to refinance its German aluminum company Almatis, despite distressed-debt investor Oaktree Capital implementing U.S. Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings that could see it take control of the company, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported. The announcement comes a day after the Enterprise Chamber of the Amsterdam Court of Appeals turned down DIC's petition for an injunction to prevent Oaktree's Chapter 11 plan.

Iceland's finance minister said on Monday the government was ready to resume talks with Britain and the Netherlands on Icesave without preconditions and expressed hope a deal could be reached in "not too many weeks", Reuters reported. Earlier this month, Icelanders overwhelmingly rejected the terms of a deal to repay Britain and the Netherlands more than $5 billion lost by foreign savers in Iceland's banking collapse. The spat has held up aid for Iceland's stricken economy. "We are ready to resume talks without preconditions.

The Netherlands and Great Britain are ready to resume talks with Iceland on repayment of over $5 billion lost in the banking crisis, but are waiting for Iceland to propose terms, the Dutch finance ministry said, Reuters reported. "For new talks to be scheduled Iceland should first make a comprehensive proposal taking account of both sides' interests," a spokesman for the ministry said on Monday. He added that Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager and Icelandic Finance Minister Steingrimur Sigfusson spoke last week and agreed that the ball was now in Iceland's court.

The president of Iceland has urged Gordon Brown, UK prime minister, to take personal responsibility for settling the dispute over €3.9bn lost by British and Dutch savers in the Icesave bank after Icelandic voters overwhelmingly rejected a deal to repay the money. Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, whose decision to block the repayment plan triggered Saturday's referendum, told the Financial Times it was "high time" for Mr Brown to "take the matter into his own hands" after more than a year of wrangling.

Icelanders Saturday roundly rejected a deal to repay the U.K. and the Netherlands €3.9 billion ($5.3 billion) lost in the collapse of an Icelandic Internet bank, complicating the island's bid to access badly needed international-aid funding and render normal its relations with the rest of the world, The Wall Street Journal reported. More than 93% of Icelanders voted no in a national referendum, according to preliminary figures published Sunday morning by state broadcaster RUV. It was Iceland's first plebiscite since the island's independence from Denmark in 1944.