It equally applies to other parts of the financial sector, such as insurance. This brings me to the other main trend that I mentioned, i.e., the blurring of the borderlines between banking, insurance and securities activities. Here too, the development in this country is a case in point.
We have been frontrunners when it comes to financial conglomerates or bank assurance, institutions that combine banking, insurance and securities activities. As is well known, the Netherlands houses a couple of world’s major internationally active financial institutions. Most of the major Dutch banks currently combine banking, insurance and securities activities.