Annual Report 2020 available

Today, the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders of NWB Bank was held in which the annual accounts were approved. The other main resolutions were as follows:

• Dividend of €45 million for the financial year 2020 declared; payment will occur after 30 September 2021 in line with the ECB recommendation
• Maurice Oostendorp has stepped down as deputy chair of the Supervisory Board as he has reached the maximum term of office
• Lidwin van Velden has been reappointed as chair of NWB Bank’s Managing Board
• Frida van den Maagdenberg has been reappointed as a member of NWB Bank’s Supervisory Board

Retiring Maurice Oostendorp

Maurice Oostendorp retired as a member and deputy chair of NWB Bank’s Supervisory Board during the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (AGM). He has reached the maximum term of office of eight years. Maurice had been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2012, chair of the Audit Committee since 2014 and deputy chair of the entire board since 2015.

“On behalf of my colleagues, I would like to thank Maurice for his contribution as a member of our board and, in particular, for his excellent chairmanship of the Audit Committee. With his broad financial and banking knowledge and social acumen, Maurice has clearly made a significant contribution to the bank’s supervision,” said Joanne Kellermann, chair of NWB Bank’s Supervisory Board.

“On behalf of the Managing Board, I would like to thank Maurice, in particular for his deep commitment to the bank and his always independent, knowledgeable and unimpeachable input,” said Lidwin van Velden, chair of NWB Bank’s Managing Board.

Within the foreseeable future, a candidate will be nominated for the succession of Maurice Oostendorp.

Reappointment Lidwin van Velden and Frida van den Maagdenberg

During the AGM, Lidwin van Velden has been reappointed as chair of the Managing Board. Lidwin has been a member of the Managing Board since 2010 and its chair since 2018. Frida van den Maagdenberg, in turn, was reappointed as a member of the Supervisory Board, also for a period of four years. She has been a member of the Supervisory Board since 2017 and in daily life is a member of the board of AMC, as well as the VUmc since the two joined forces in an administrative merger.

Dividend declaration

During the AGM, the decision was also made to declare a dividend of €45 million for the financial year 2020. The dividend will be paid out as soon as the European Central Bank (ECB) allows this again, as quickly as possible after 30 September 2021. At that time, the remainder of the €55 million dividend declared for the 2019 financial year will also be paid to shareholders. Since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out, the ECB has urged all institutions under its supervision to postpone the payment of dividends. Most recently, on 15 December 2020, the ECB extended this recommendation to 30 September 2021. Using the leeway provided by the ECB at the time, NWB Bank already paid €8.1 million in dividends for the 2019 financial year to its shareholders in early March 2021.

Looking back

The AGM also reflected extensively on the past year. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, NWB Bank again provided more than €10 billion in financing to the Dutch public sector. Among other things, clients use this funding to enhance sustainability and absorb the financial impact of the pandemic and the associated measures. It is especially worth noting that NWB Bank’s financing of renewable energy projects grew by approximately €600 million last year, amounting to a portfolio of €900 million.

NWB Bank’s annual report is now available.​​