EU's Kroes declines comment on Fortis/ABN remedy

 

European Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes on Tuesday declined to endorse or reject any potential effort by the Dutch state to sell Fortis assets to ease competition concerns.

The Dutch state is under orders to sell some ABN AMRO assets before it can merge that nationalised bank with the state-controlled Fortis Bank Nederland .

The finance ministry has broached the idea of selling some Fortis assets instead, though.

Kroes told reporters that any deal would have to ensure that adequate competition is preserved in the Netherlands.