Some 18,000 clients of Deutsche Bank Nederland will receive a letter over the next few days telling them to take their business elsewhere, the Financieele Dagblad reports on Thursday.

The FD says clients will be told ‘Deutsche Bank is not a suitable bank for you’. Some 2,000 private customers will be given until November to find a new financial service provider. The rest of the unwanted client list is made up of small firms, foundations and sports clubs, the paper says.

The list consists of clients who moved to Deutsche Bank when it took over parts of ABN Amro three years ago. Deutsche Bank bought a number of activities which ABN Amro was ordered by Brussels to sell when it merged with Fortis Nederland.

New Deutsche Bank Nederland director Kees Hoving told the FD these activities are loss-making and the bank is focusing on customers who operate internationally.

‘Dutch banks can probably serve people who only operate in the Netherlands better than us,’ he said.