The Dutch central bank is in favour of an investigation to establish whether Pieter Lakeman, head of a lobby group representing disgruntled customers of DSB Bank, could be held legally responsible for calling on savers to withdraw their money from the bank in order to force it into bankruptcy.

‘We are not the ones to do this but I think it is worth the effort to look into the situation,’ Nout Wellink, head of the central bank, is quoted as saying in the Volkskrant.
Wellink stressed that according to the latest information, the DSB Bank meets all the central bank’s conditions in terms of liquidity and solvency ratios. He declined to say whether the DSB is specifically under the supervision of the central bank.
Last week customers removed around €60m from the bank following a call by Lakeman to force the bank into bankruptcy. Lakeman is chairman of the Hypotheekleed foundation which is fighting for individual compensation for bank customers who claim they were encouraged to take out excessively high mortgages.
A separate foundation representing other disatisified customers, the Steunfonds Probleemhypotheeken, on Sunday signed an agreement with the DSB in which individuals will be compensated for losses via a group claim.
But Lakeman’s organisation does not want to settle its dispiute with the bak via a group claim.