Depositors bring down Dutch bank
Customers of the Dutch bank DSB have forced it into bankruptcy by withdrawing £550m of their savings in just 12 days.
They were encouraged by campaigner Pieter Lakeman who runs the Mortgage Grievances Foundation. He appeared on Dutch television on Thursday 1 October and told customers it was "in their personal and collective interest to take their money out".
Professor Jacob de Haan of Groningen University said Mr Lakeman was protesting about the way the bank lent money. He told Radio 4's Money Box programme: "The bank was under attack and being criticised for being aggressive. Many people borrowed much more than they could afford and as a consequence some were in severe financial troubles."
