Amsterdam - Fortis shareholders are testing the waters to see if they can file a lawsuit against the Dutch bank after it was nationalized last month.

Details of the claim, which is being prepared by De Gier Business Law, are sketchy. It is not clear if shareholders would seek damages against Fortis NV for losses incurred after its nationalization or if a suit would merely seek to assign blame for the steps that led to the nationalization.

Amsterdam - Investors remained largely optimistic at the Dutch stock exchange on Tuesday. By 3 pm (1300 GMT) the main index AEX stood at 296.77 points, up 4.03 per cent.

Still, AEX was making only a slow recovery after a near-free-fall as soon as trading resumed for the first time at 11 am (0900 GMT) for Fortis NV, the former Dutch-Belgium insurer and bank company.

The AEX instantly dropped from 300 to 291.62 points, the lowest level of the day. By 3 pm (1300 GMT), Fortis stood at a loss of 66.97 per cent, at 1.78 euros.

Amsterdam - Only a comprehensive international solution can save the global financial markets, Arnoud Boot, professor of Corporate Finance and Financial Markets at the University of Amsterdam said on Dutch television on Friday.

Boot was commenting on continued losses at the Dutch stock exchange on Friday.

By 1:30 pm (1130 GMT) AEX, the main Dutch index, had lost more than 6.56 per cent and stood at 263.64 points. Since last week, the AEX has lost 80 points - representing some 80 billion euros
(109.16 billion dollars).

Amsterdam - The Netherlands late Thursday made available another 20 billion euros to shore up the liquidity of banks embattled by the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Wouter Bos said.

Dutch central bank chief Nout Wellink said the funds would be made available for all financial firms that need it, including insurance groups.

Amsterdam  - The AEX, the main index of the Amsterdam stock exchange, continued to circle around 300 Wednesday after previously dipping to its lowest point in more than five years.

Opening at 293.66, the index initially fell to 280.52, its lowest level in more than five years.

It is also less than 60 per cent of this year's highest level, 518.27, achieved January 2.

By 1:30 pm (1130 GMT), the AEX recovered slightly to 309.44, which was still a loss of 3.01 per cent from Tuesday.

Amsterdam- An Icelandic bank faces the confiscation of its Dutch assets if it cannot guarantee customers access to their accounts.

The bank, Icesave, is a subsidiary of Landsbanki, Iceland's second largest bank.

It began operations in the Netherlands in late May and has attracted 75,000 account holders with promises of unlimited deposits and withdrawals and interest rates significantly above the national average.