Dutch firms, institutions and households collectively held nearly €3,500 billion worth of securities as at year-end 2024. This is according to new figures DNB today released for the first time. From now on, DNB charts the securities holdings of the overall Dutch economy.
© iStock
The new statistics show, for each month, the securities holdings of different sectors, such as non-financial corporations, banks, other financial institutions, institutional investors and households.
At De Nederlandsche Bank, we independently compile statistics on the Dutch financial sector and economy. This article is based on these statistics. More information on our statistics and all dashboards can be found on our Statistics homepage.
Further breakdowns are provided by security type: listed shares, investment fund shares and debt securities. Information is also available on the geography of the party issuing the securities. This creates an overall picture of Dutch securities holdings.
As at year-end 2024, most of the assets of Dutch firms, institutions and households were invested in debt securities, i.e. bonds. This category accounts for more than €1,383 billion.
Some €1,123 billion was invested in investment fund shares, while nearly €980 billion was invested in listed equities. This brings total Dutch securities holdings to €3,487 billion, equivalent to 308% of Dutch gross domestic product. This is a relatively high percentage compared to many other euro area countries, in part because of the substantial investments of Dutch pension funds.
Institutional investors – investment funds, insurers and pension funds – hold the most securities, over 68% of the total. Banks (more than 9%) and other financial institutions (just below 11%) also have sizeable investments.
Of the €3,487 billion, €1,338 billion (38%) was invested in securities issued by institutions based in the Netherlands alone. Some €800 billion (23%) concerns investments in securities issued in other euro area countries, while €1,349 billion (39%) was invested in securities issued outside the euro area.
The picture for listed shares looks remarkably different: almost three quarters (74%) are held in non-euro area firms. Most of these investments are in US firms, including big tech companies such as NVIDIA, Apple and Microsoft.
Securities statistics are produced based on the reports submitted by financial institutions from various Dutch sectors. For each sector, we apply a lower limit for inclusion in the population, without extrapolating for institutions that do not report. As a result, the data differ from other macroeconomic statistics produced by DNB and Statistics Netherlands (CBS).
We treat some data confidentially to safeguard the anonymity of reporting institutions from different sectors. As a result, some breakdowns do not present any figures.
Specific details of the various statistics can be found in the explanatory notes to the tables.
More information
Dutch pension funds invest structurally less in European companies than in US companies, DNB figures reveal. At the end of 2024, invested assets in European (EU) non-financial corporations amounted to €97 billion, compared to €293 billion in US counterparts.
Read more Dutch pension funds invest more in US companies than in European companies
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Dutch households’ portfolio investments reached a new record high of €192.4 billion, as revealed by the latest DNB figures. The increase is entirely due to rising stock market prices, as households also sold a significant amount of their securities holdings.
Read more Households with investments close 2024 with record securities holdings
The negative balance in the goods trade with the United States has weakened in recent quarters after rising sharply since 2021, as revealed by new DNB balance of payments figures. In the third quarter of 2024, the balance was € -3.7 billion.
Read more Import surplus in goods trade with US shrinks
Geopolitical shocks have a significant impact on the solvency of Dutch and European insurers. This has emerged from a stress test published by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) on 17 December 2024.
Read more Geopolitical shocks have a significant impact on the solvency of Dutch and European insurers