The official receivers dealing with DSB Bank, which went bankrupt in 2009, are planning to sue the Dutch central bank for failing to properly supervise the privately-held bank.

Claims pending against the collapsed bank total €3.7bn, of which €1.16bn has been paid, as the bank’s own creditors make payments. No damages claim has yet been set, the FD said.

Receiver Rutger Schimmelpenninck told the Financieele Dagblad this position has been strengthened by statements made by former central bank chief Nout Wellink in 2010. At that time Wellink told a parliamentary inquiry that, with hindsight, tougher conditions should have been attached to DSB’s banking licence.

A damning report into DSB bank’s bankruptcy at the time said the central bank should never have given DSB a banking licence. There were ‘so many shortcomings in the leadership and organisation of DSB bank that giving the permit carried too many risks,’ the report said.