The Nederlandse Waterschapsbank (NWB Bank) ( en, Netherlands

water board A water board is a regional or national organisation that has very different functions from one country to another. The functions range from flood control and water resources management at the regional or local level (the Netherlands, Germany), w ...

s bank) is a Dutch specialist

financial institution Financial institutions, sometimes called banking institutions, are business entities that provide services as intermediaries for different types of financial monetary transactions. Broadly speaking, there are three major types of financial insti ...

that providing funding for

s and local government organisations in the Netherlands. It is a

Local Government Funding Agency A Local Government Funding Agency (LGFA) or Bond Bank is financial institution that serves as a vehicle for local government authorities such as municipalities, county councils and regions to access capital markets for the purpose of jointly procu ...

owned by the Dutch Water boards and

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

. It has been using the trading name NWB Bank since 2009. Although a registered bank, it only lends to

Dutch government The politics of the Netherlands take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy, a constitutional monarchy, and a decentralised unitary state.''Civil service systems in Western Europe'' edited by A. J. G. M. Bekke, ...

entities and does not provide any services to individuals or companies. NWB has been designated as a Significant Institution since the entry into force of

European Banking Supervision European Banking Supervision, also known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM), is the policy framework for the prudential supervision of banks in the euro area. It is centered on the European Central Bank (ECB), whose supervisory arm is ...

in late 2014, and as a consequence is directly supervised by the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's Big Four (banking)#Intern ...

History

Starting in the 1950s the water board union regularly lent money to the individual Water Boards. However the union was not well equipped to handle the banking and lending activities and so on December 19, 1952 it decided to set up a separate water board bank to handle this task. The bank would raise risk less capital from the water boards and later other government organisations and lend this out to the water boards as required. The main aim was to provide the cheapest possible source of funding for the government entities. The disaster caused by the

North Sea flood of 1953 The 1953 North Sea flood was a major flood caused by a heavy storm surge that struck the Netherlands, north-west Belgium, England and Scotland. Most sea defences facing the surge were overwhelmed, causing extensive flooding. The storm and flo ...

sped up the development of the bank and on May 5, 1954 the bank was established as

Limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by Share (finance), shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by ...

by the 142 water boards of the Netherlands. The bank is wholly owned by a diverse set of Dutch government entities and only the Dutch state and local entities may be shareholders in the bank. Based on 2013 data, 81% is held by the Dutch water boards, 17% by the Dutch government and 2% by the provinces.

Activities

The NWB Bank provides

credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...

local authorities Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

, public institutions in the area of

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

services and education and for water and environmental projects. The bank raises funds on the international

money Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...

and

capital market A capital market is a financial market in which long-term debt (over a year) or equity-backed securities are bought and sold, in contrast to a money market where short-term debt is bought and sold. Capital markets channel the wealth of savers t ...

s on the basis of a very strong balance sheet and high credit rating. The Nederlandse Waterschapsbank has a Triple A rating from

Moody's Moody's Investors Service, often referred to as Moody's, is the bond credit rating business of Moody's Corporation, representing the company's traditional line of business and its historical name. Moody's Investors Service provides international ...

and

Standard & Poor's S&P Global Ratings (previously Standard & Poor's and informally known as S&P) is an American credit rating agency (CRA) and a division of S&P Global that publishes financial research and analysis on stocks, bonds, and commodities. S&P is con ...

(January 2012) and was placed 6th in the Global Finance's worlds 50th safest banks in 2013. As the banks customers are government entities with very high credit ratings the risk of default is very low, as of 2011 it had a very high

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

tier 1 ratio of 90%.

References

External links

NWB Bank (english)
Banks of the Netherlands Banks established in 1954 1954 establishments in the Netherlands Banks under direct supervision of the European Central Bank Water boards (Netherlands) Local government finance Government-owned banks Government-owned companies of the Netherlands {{Netherlands-bank-stub