SNS Reaal got a 2008 bailout — the state paid €3.7B to finish it in 2013

SNS Reaal, the Netherlands' fourth-largest bank, was in acute distress over its property arm: the real estate portfolio had declined until the group's finances fell below legal solvency limits. It had already needed a 750 million euro state bailout in 2008, and the property losses kept mounting. On 31 January 2013 the Dutch central bank set a firm deadline — 18:00 — for a private solution to be found. None was.

On 1 February 2013 the Minister of Finance nationalised SNS Reaal under the Intervention Act, judging that bankruptcy would put the Dutch financial system in 'serious and immediate danger,' and isolating the problematic real estate portfolio from the rest of the group. The operation cost the state 3.7 billion euros: 2.2 billion in new capital, 0.8 billion written off from the earlier aid package, and 0.7 billion to put the property portfolio at arm's length — with a further 1.1 billion in loans and 5 billion in guarantees.

The bill was split by design. Shareholders and subordinated creditors were expropriated outright — which saved the state 1 billion euros — while the 1.6 million savings accounts were untouched and retail deposits protected. The banking sector got the next invoice: a one-off resolution levy of 1 billion euros imposed on Dutch banks in 2014.