If Banque Nationale de Paris (BNP) really buys ABN Amro, let it be an acquisition. Not a merger on the basis of equality, or an acquisition that is called a merger and gives the illusion that the Dutch still have something to say. As a French subsidiary, ABN Amro should not have a separate supervisory board, nor should the state hold a priority share through legal scheming. And especially no name BNP ABN Amro, BNP AA or Banpro that suggests that the bank still has a polder smell.
All ABN Amro offices – at least those that are still there – should be renamed as BNP Nederland as soon as possible. Simply squandering the legacy of the VOC and Nederlandsche Handel-Maatschappij in its entirety for the French grandeur, which can do with it what it pleases. This saves tens of millions in bills from accountants, lawyers and PR consultants, who are eagerly awaiting the most complex possible construction.
The merger experiences with French companies at the beginning of this century have been a good learning experience. Both the Amsterdam stock exchange within Euronext and KLM within Air France KLM were made happy with a dead sparrow. It was agreed at Euronext that the Dutchman George Möller would succeed the French director Jean-François Théodore after four years. The French did not keep their promise. Möller resigned and went to the Robeco Group. Since the merger in 2000, the combination, which now also includes other European stock exchanges, has always been led by a Frenchman who hands out the reins. Amsterdam has to be satisfied with a building on the Damrak and its own exchange board with Dutch company names.
And the fate of KLM is well known. The blue swan has been plucked by Paris. Nevertheless, the government is putting in hundreds of millions more to keep up appearances and have as big a say in the bottomless pit as Macron’s government.
Competing with the French in one company will not work. If you give the French a finger, they take the whole hand. The question is what BNP sees in ABN Amro. At the most, this will give them a second home market in les Pays-Bas with a large mortgage portfolio. For the rest, ABN Amro is a ship of help, which you can’t break with globally. Perhaps they can restore ABN Amro to its former glory: a bank that is part of international syndicates, guides companies to the stock exchange and trades for its own account and risk. That can turn out well. Finally, the Dutch also owe the Code Napoléon, the meter, kilo, liter, driving on the right, their surnames and the first design of a tax system to the French.
And if it turns out to be a failure, the French can always cut up ABN Amro and sell the remainder to ING, Rabo, Volksbank or another highest bidder. As long as the bill doesn’t reach the taxpayer. Not only Napoleon, also ABN Amro has already found its Waterloo with the Belgians of Fortis.