Dutch earned €1.3 billion on banking safety net

The Netherlands earned a profit of 1.3 billion euro on a bank lending scheme introduced at the height of the financial crisis to keep the economy moving. In October 2008 the Dutch government introduced a 200 billion euro guarantee scheme for banks to continue offering medium-term debt and make it safer to lend to each other.

Money lent to banks was intended to make its way to smaller financial institutions, and ultimately loans to businesses and some individuals.

"As a government, we have taken the necessary measures to support the financial sector," said Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem. "Slowly but surely, we have seen these measures taking effect on the Financial Sector, and the guarantee, put in place in 2008, has now been terminated."

There were two extension on the guarantee, and upon each renewal, the costs were increased in an effort to encourage banks to source alternative arrangements. The guarantee ended on January 1, 2011.

"The Dutch Financial Sector is on it's own again," Dijsselbloem said. "All that remains important now, is that the Financial Sector keeps their affairs in order in the coming years."