On 18 December 2020, the Dutch Central Bank (De Nederlandsche Bank, DNB) issued a press release in which the regulator indicates to follow the European Central Bank’s (ECB) recommendation of 15 December 2020, urging large banks subject to ECB supervision to be very restrained when it comes to making dividend payments or buying back own shares. Banks have also been urged to limit variable remuneration payments. DNB also considers this recommendation to be applicable to less significant credit institutions which are directly supervised by DNB. This recommendation made is a result of the current exceptional circumstances and remains in force until September 2021. At that point, provided there will be no material detrimental developments, DNB expects to return to a normal assessment of banks’ capital distributions.