Amsterdam - Dutch labour unions expressed relief Tuesday over the sale of ABN Amro Bank's subsidiary Hollandse Bank Unie (HBU) to Deutsche Bank, according to media reports. "The 1,400 HBU employees finally have certainty," said Joop Hofland, spokesman of labour union De Unie.
"This also removes the most important obstacle for a merger of ABN Amro and Fortis Netherlands banks," he added.
In October 2008, the Dutch government nationalized the local branches of ABN Amro and Fortis to save them from collapse. The idea was to merge both banks later.
European Union (EU) Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes however blocked the merger, saying it could not go forward until ABN Amro sold HBU to avoid the new ABN Amro/Fortis combination from dominating the market.
Earlier Tuesday, Finance Minister Wouter Bos informed parliament about the agreement with Deutsche Bank.
He wrote he would request extra time from the EU Commmission to finalize sale details. Bos declined to reveal information about HBU's sales price, as both banks' management still had to approve the agreement.
Previous negotiations with Deutsche Bank about the sale of HBU failed because the German bank said the price was too high.
