THE HAGUE - ABN AMRO sees residents of Curaçao, Bonaire, Sint Maarten, Sint Eustatius and Saba as risky and therefore no longer wants them as customers. The five islands are considered by the bank (of which the Dutch state is the majority shareholder) as areas with a high level of corruption or other criminal activity. This is according to the Dutch Minister of Finance Wopke Hoekstra in a letter to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.
The bank makes an exception for Aruba. This is assigned a 'neutral risk score'. Although residents cannot open an account, existing accounts are not canceled. ABN AMRO has also suspended the termination of its relationship with customers on the other five islands because of the private member's bill that grants Dutch nationals abroad the right to a basic current account.