Nout Wellink

A native of Bredevoort, Wellink studied law at Leiden University from 1961 to 1968. He was awarded a Ph.D. degree in economics from Erasmus University Rotterdam in 1975.[5]

From 1970 to 1982, Wellink worked at the Dutch Ministry of Finance. He rose through the bureaucracy to become Director General of Financial and Economic Policy. He, also, held the post of Treasurer General.[2]

In 1982, he became Executive Director of De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB), the central bank of The Netherlands. In 1997, he was named president of the bank.[2] On 1 July 2011 his second term as president of DNB ended.

In 2000, Wellink became a member of the Trilateral Commission.[5]

Nout Wellink's career has, also, been criticised. Under his supervision some serious problems arose in the Dutch banking sector, where DNB's actions have come under scrutiny by the Dutch parliament:

1. The bankruptcy of Landsbanki (Iceland) which bank was awarded a banking permit in 2008 (trading under the name Icesave) whilst the Banque de France had supposedly rejected a French banking permit. Formally Banque de France later on stated that they never received request from Icesave for permit as a "credit institution" but it was allowed to progress with its pending business in France.[6] Later that same year Landsbanki went bankrupt and was nationalized by the Icelandic government.
2. The bankruptcy of DSB in 2009 which bank was awarded a banking permit by DNB in 2005. Subsequent analysis showed that at the time the banking permit was awarded DSB's risk management still had serious flaws and also the continuity of its business model was deemed risky. Based on a plan of improvement and appointment of a supervisory board DNB issued the permit. After the demise of DSB it turned out that the supervisory board had little influence on the behaviour of its CEO Mr. Dirk Scheringa, the planned improvement of its risk management was far behind schedule and the change of its businessmodel also wasn't implemented.[7][8]
3. In 2007 Fortis, Banco Santander and RBS successfully purchased ABN Amro with the plan to split the bank into different pieces. Though a major system bank and pivotal for the Dutch economy DNB approved the takeover. In 2008, it turned out that Fortis was hurt badly by the credit crisis, which -ultimately- led to nationalization of both Fortis and ABN Amro by the Belgian and Dutch governments, respectively. The Dutch parliament researched this action, and DNB's actions were highly criticized.[9]

Wellink published works include books[12] and articles.[5]

• Beyond the crisis: the Basel Committee’s strategic response (2009)
• President's speech (2005)
• The role of national central banks within the European System of Central Banks: The example of De Nederlandsche Bank (2002), with Bryan Chapple and Philipp Maier
• Jonge wijn in oude zakken : op weg naar een nieuwe Nieuwe economie (2001)
• Overheidsfinanciën (1978), with Lenze Koopmans, 201 pages

• Commander of the Order of Orange-Nassau[13]
• Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion[5]
• Honorary doctorate from the University of Tilburg[5]

• Choudry, Moorad (2010). Structured Credit Products: Credit Derivatives and Synthetic Securitisation. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley. ISBN 9780470824139. OCLC 437082963.
• This article incorporates information from the article Nout Wellink on the Netherlands Wikipedia.

• Interview in De Groene Amsterdammer, 2003