Conservatrix’s former shareholder seeks more than €53m from DNB and Dutch state

Conservatrix Group, the former shareholder of Dutch life insurer Conservatrix, says it has held De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) and the Dutch state jointly liable for more than €53m over the forced sale of its shares. Its lawyer sent the notice on 26 October, according to financial news site InFinance. The group has given both parties three weeks to propose a settlement and says it will bring a civil case if they do not.

The dispute dates back to 2017, when a court approved the transfer of Conservatrix Group’s shares to a new owner for €1 amid concerns about the insurer’s solvency. Conservatrix went bankrupt in 2020.

The group cites a ruling from February this year in which an Amsterdam court found that DNB had kept information about a reinsurance arrangement out of the 2017 proceedings. The court called this procedural fraud under a Dutch rule governing the reopening of cases. It said the information could plausibly have led to a different decision because the court had not been able to consider less drastic alternatives. It did not establish that the transfer would have been blocked or that DNB acted deliberately.

The court refused to reopen the 2017 decision because the transfer could no longer be undone, and it did not decide whether DNB owed damages. In a separate case against the state, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal’s Enterprise Chamber reached a different view in 2025: it found it unlikely that knowledge of the reinsurance would have changed decisions on the transfer and compensation. Neither ruling determines the new €53m claim.

DNB said earlier this year that it disagreed with the February court’s finding and had challenged it before the Supreme Court. Finance minister Eelco Heinen said in March that the ruling alone did not entitle the former shareholder to damages; the group would have to establish the legal grounds and the loss caused.

The sum sought is Conservatrix Group’s provisional calculation, not a court award. InFinance reports that the group attributes a May 2017 valuation of about €37m, within a range of €30m to €41m, to actuarial consultancy Milliman. The group says interest and legal costs bring its claim to more than €53m. Whether the parties will settle, or a court will find that compensation is owed, remains open.