Finance minister Wouter Bos is determined to give the government more control of the Dutch banks the state is rescuing from the global credit crunch by appointing its own executives to the boards with powers of veto on important decisions.

But who is he going to appoint? Bankers untainted by the current financial crisis are few and far between.
In the case of financial services group ING, which was bailed out on Sunday, Bos needs to find two supervisory board members. Jan Kalff, the former head of ABN Amro, and Onno Ruding, ex-finance minister and Citibank executive have been suggested as possible candidates.
Not surprisingly for the conservative bastion of banking, no women have been named in the media speculation.
This just will not do, says Woman Capital, an executive search bureau for women. The company yesterday placed an full-page advertisement in the Financieele Dagblad newspaper calling on Bos to avoid hasty appointments from within the old boys network and to create evenly balanced boards made up of men and women.
Clearly, Woman Capital has a vested interest in promoting female executives. But is does have a point. The male-dominated board rooms of banks with testosterone-driven, bonus-grabbing executives have not exactly excelled of late.
But which top female bankers should Bos approach? There has still not been a female ceo of large Dutch bank. But maybe Bos should break the mould, and appoint an up and coming female banker, of which there are now enough. You have to start somewhere.