"I always wanted to be a banker"
Why are you building a new head office for ABN Amro?
When we discussed the merger between ABN and Amro, one of the things we were concerned about was possible cultural differences. The selection of a head office was an important element. People were watching closely whether the board would move into the old Amro or old ABN building. We were very sensitive to that. Another reason was that we had no building big enough to contain the whole head office staff. Also we thought that, as we were planning to create a new bank, that implied also a new face. All these reasons brought us to the conclusion that it was worthwhile to spend almost DFL850 million on a new head office.
The original plan was to open in 1997. Why is it delayed?
Itís not our fault. The city of Amsterdam held it up. It took longer than expected to get the approvals. This is a very democratic country where everybody likes to protest.