Dutch businesses, households owned €3.5 trillion in global securities last year

Dutch companies, institutions, and households owned almost 3,500 billion euros in global securities at the end of 2024, reported De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). This is the first time that the central bank has provided an overview of the total Dutch securities holdings. The total investments are equal to 308 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), or the size of the Dutch economy.

Compared to many other countries in the eurozone, the Netherlands has a high percentage of investments. According to DNB, this is partly due to the substantial investments of Dutch pension funds. Institutional investors, such as investment funds, insurers, and pension funds, own over 68 percent of the investments. Banks and other financial institutions also accounted for a substantial proportion.

The majority of the invested capital of Dutch companies, institutions, and households was invested in debt securities, such as government and corporate bonds. In total, this amounted to over 1,383 billion euros at the end of 2024. Approximately 1,123 billion euros were invested through participations in investment funds, and almost 980 billion euros consisted of investments in listed shares.

About 38 percent of the total was invested in securities issued by institutions established in the Netherlands. Approximately 23 percent concerned investments in securities issued by other euro countries, and 39 percent was invested in securities issued outside the eurozone.

For investments in shares, people looked across the border more often. Almost three-quarters of the shares were held in companies from outside the eurozone, especially in large American tech companies such as Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft.