President Nout Wellink of the Dutch Central Bank (DNB) has rejected criticism of his handling of the 2007 sale of ABN Amro Bank.

Mr Wellink was testifying before a parliamentary committee investigating the government and Central Bank response to the 2008 and 2009 financial crisis.

The DNB chief said every aspect, including potential risks, had  been thoroughly investigated before ABN Amro was taken over by an international consortium.

After purchasing ABN Amro, Fortis Belgium, Royal Bank of Scotland and Spain's Banco Santander divided the bank's activities between themselves. The Dutch government was forced to purchase one division of the former ABN Amro bank after it ran into financial problems during the credit crisis.

At the time of the sale, Mr Wellink formally declared he had no objections to the deal. During today's testimony, he said he stood by his decision, "The conditions attached to my approval were of unprecedented severity," the bank president told the committee.

Mr Wellink added that he had regretted not being allowed to co-ordinate his actions with the prime minister.

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