ABN Amro, ING facilitate tax avoidance via the Netherlands, claims Fair Bank Guide

At the end of 2023, ABN Amro and ING each had financial relationships with at least 17 companies that actively avoided taxes via the Netherlands, according to the annual Fair Bank Guide, or Eerlijke Bankwijzer (EBW). Rabobank and Van Lanschot Kempen had financial relationships with a smaller number of tax-avoiding companies, the report released this week stated.

Multinationals manage to avoid paying 46 billion euros in global taxes using structures involving the Netherlands, according to an estimate by the Tax Justice Network. With that, the Netherlands is in 4th place on the global tax haven ranking.

The Fair Bank Guide examined the financial relationships of Dutch banks with 26 tax-avoiding companies from 2019 to the end of 2023. It found that ABN Amro was the most involved in tax avoidance. At the end of last year, the bank had financial relationships with 17 of the investigated companies and was even actively involved in the tax avoidance structure of seven of those companies.

The bank refuted the allegations in a separate statement. “In the report, the EBW incorrectly names several companies as clients of ABN AMRO, for example as borrowers or account holders,” the bank said, while refusing to identify any one company in particular. It clarified that some companies described in the report no longer fit in with its portfolio, as it shed its trade and commodities financing activities in 2020.

ABN Amro further claimed it was not treated fairly in the report, because in several circumstances it did not directly make investments in the tax-avoiding companies. However, the bank does not prevent its clients from making their own investments in such firms. “Despite EBW's call to avoid certain companies, we prefer to leave that choice to our clients themselves.”

ING also did not perform well in the study. The bank had financial relationships with 17 investigated companies and actively helped four of them with tax avoidance, the EBW alleged.

“This means that these banks play a major role in tax avoidance via the Netherlands.”

ING did not release a statement on the matter. Its policy on taxation states, “We don’t provide customers with tax advice, and it is our policy that we don’t facilitate tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance by customers.”

Further, the company’s tax policy states, “As a global bank, we play a crucial role in fighting financial crime and protecting the financial system from harmful behaviour. This includes criminal activities such as tax evasion, but also aggressive tax avoidance, which is not illegal but can be damaging to the communities in which we operate.”

Rabobank has three connections with one tax-avoiding company, and Van Lanschot Kempen is involved in six ways with four investigated companies. Only Bunq, NIBC, Triodos Bank, and the Volksbank were not involved in tax avoidance.

“Tax avoidance via the Netherlands has been a major problem for a long time. That is why it is incomprehensible that ABN Amro and ING still play such an active role in tax avoidance by multinationals,” said Fair Bank Guide spokesperson Barbara Oosters. “So many financial relationships with companies that are known to be guilty of tax avoidance, there is really something wrong with these banks.”

The Fair Bank Guide worries that its figures are just the tip of the iceberg. “Due to a lack of transparency at companies and banks, it is difficult to find out how tax avoidance structures are set up and financed. The government and De Nederlandsche Bank as supervisory authority must investigate this further and ensure that this stops.’’

Multinationals avoid 46 billion euros in global taxes through the Netherlands, according to an estimate by the Tax Justice Network. This tax money could have gone to essential public services like schools and hospitals. “Tax avoidance puts these services under pressure in the Netherlands, but also in poorer countries. Developing countries are losing almost half of their annual public health budget due to lower tax revenues,” the Fair Bank Guide said.

"This investigation should be a wake-up call for Dutch banks such as ING and ABN AMRO. They must screen their business clients, address their tax practices, demand transparent tax reporting per country, and break off financial relationships in the event of persistent abuses," says Oosters. "Rabobank and Van Lanschot Kempen must also get to work. Because every tax avoidance structure via the Netherlands is one too many."