Why the Dutch Hate Bankers

The Netherlands is the cradle of capitalism—the home of the world’s first stock market and the dominant global financial center in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its banking sector was the first to introduce innovations such as international trade finance and underwriting of bonds issued by foreign governments. And its banks today are among the European Union’s safest, most profitable, and most digitally savvy. So why do the Dutch hate bankers so much?

A 2018 survey by researcher NIM found that Dutch people have Europe’s highest level of trust in lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, but they’re tied for second-lowest in their feelings toward bankers. The Netherlands is a hotbed of measured moderation—it lacks France’s fierce unions, Britain’s sensationalist tabloids, and Italy’s string of failed governments—but Dutch bankers face Europe’s toughest restrictions on pay, profits, and practices. When ING Groep NV, the country’s largest lender, approached Germany’s Commerzbank AG about a possible takeover this spring, it offered to move its headquarters to Frankfurt as part of the deal, according to local media reports. “The Netherlands is an egalitarian country with relatively small income inequalities,” says Jeroen Dijsselbloem, a former finance minister. “The culture in the financial sector, which overvalues its own achievements, doesn’t really fit into that.”