De Volksbank

De Volksbank ("the people's bank") is a Dutch retail bank offering financial products to both companies and individuals. Prior to a 2017 restructuring, it was called SNS Bank, which remains its major brand name. It became a subsidiary of SNS Reaal in 1997 when the holding company bought the insurance company Reaal. The bank and its parent were rescued by the Dutch government in 2013 and have been state owned since then. In 2016, SNS Bank was the fourth-largest bank in the Netherlands in terms of total assets.

The history of the bank goes back to 1817 when the first Netherlands savings bank (Dutch: spaarbank) was established as Nutsspaarbank. The saving bank movement was part of a campaign to encourage individual citizens to save for their future. The Savings banks used these funds to provide mortgages to individuals who would otherwise not have the ability to buy their own house, much like the building society movement in the UK. During the 19th and 20th century a number of spaarbanks were established throughout the Netherlands.

The second half of the 20th century saw a big consolidation of spaarbanks resulting in two major groups, one was SBS Bank and other was VSB (Verenigde Spaarbank) (English: United Savings Bank) which became part of Fortis (finance). SNS Bank was formed out of a merger of several savings banks in the Netherlands. SNS is an abbreviation of Samenwerkende Nederlandse Spaarbanken (“Co-operating Dutch Savings banks”).

The parent holding company listed on the Euronext stock exchange in Amsterdam on May 18, 2006 and the following year it bought all shares in major Dutch insurance provider Reaal.

On December 4, 2006, it was announced that SNS Bank would purchase Regio Bank from ING Bank in a €50M deal.

On February 1, 2013 the bank and its parent was nationalized by the Dutch government to save it from default. In 2017 SNS and the other banks owned by SNS Bank N.V. merged into de Volksbank, a single bank (with a single banking permit) that continues to operate under various brand names, including SNS and ASN.