Former ABN Amro banking chief Jan Peter Schmittmann, found dead at his home in Laren at the weekend, killed his wife and daughter and then hung himself, the Telegraaf says on Tuesday.

A suicide note was found at the family home in the wealthy town but further details have not been released. However, Schmittmann was known to suffer from severe depression, the paper says.

Police were called to the house at 10.30 on Saturday morning after receiving a report that ‘something was up’. They then found the bodies of Schmittmann and his wife Nelly, both 57, and their 22-year-old handicapped daughter Babette, who was 22.

Another daughter, aged 24, is a student in Amsterdam and was not at the house. Before he died, Schmittmann sent a text message to a family friend asking them to ‘take care of my daughter’, the Telegraaf says.

Schmittmann worked for ABN Amro for 26 years and was head of the bank’s Dutch operations when it was nationalised in 2008. He left with a €8m pay-off.