Amsterdam - The negative mood on the Amsterdam stock exchange persisted on Wednesday. By 13:30 pm (1130 GMT) the main index AEX stood at 273.97 points (down 3.70 per cent).

Amsterdam - Fortis will disappear as a brand name from the Netherlands, the chairman of the bank's board told Dutch BNR News Radio on Tuesday.

"We will have to let go of the brand name Fortis", Jan van Rutte told the broadcaster, noting the name now has a negative association, which might affect the bank adversely.

Van Rutte did not say whether Fortis will continue under the name of ABN Amro.

Two weeks ago the Dutch government nationalized Fortis Netherlands in a joint action with the Belgian government and French bank BNP Paribas in order to prevent Fortis' collapse.

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.