The Dutch government plans to decrease its ownership in ABN Amro by 25%.

• The Dutch government announced on Tuesday that it will decrease its ownership in lender ABN Amro from 37.5% to 25% through a trading plan.
• During the financial crisis, banks were taken over by the government. Now, the government is selling its shareholdings in these banks as their stock prices have rebounded.

The Dutch government announced on Tuesday that it will decrease its ownership in lender ABN Amro from 37.5% to 25% through a trading plan.

The Dutch bank's shares opened 1.2% lower and were down 0.6% at 9:15 a.m. London time.

The Dutch government, through its investment vehicle firm NLFI, announced that it will sell shares in ABN Amro using a pre-arranged trading plan to be executed by Barclays Bank Ireland.

The government sold shares worth approximately 1.17 billion euros in September, reducing its shareholding to under 50%. Some of the proceeds were used to pay off state debts.

In 2008, the state bailed out ABN Amro during the financial crisis, and the company was later privatized in 2015. However, the government has been gradually reducing its shareholding in the firm since last year.

The government took ownership of the lender to maintain financial stability, not for investment purposes, as Finance Minister Eelco Heinen stated in a letter to parliament, reaffirming previous statements on the matter.

To recover the government's total expenditure, the entire remaining stake would need to be sold at a price of 31.49 euros per share, Heinen stated in September, emphasizing that it is "not feasible" that such a price will be attained in the near future.

On Monday, ABN Amro's share price closed at 15.83 euros.

Rebound in shares

The recent move by to invest in a German bank has brought attention to the banking industry, prompting discussions about cross-border mergers in Europe and the incompleteness of a unified banking system in the region.

This year, both the U.K. and German governments have reduced their shareholdings in banks that were taken over during the financial crisis.

Last year, there were rumors that French bank BNP Paribas was considering acquiring ABN Amro, a Dutch lender. However, BNP Paribas denied these reports.