Only for employees
Reorganization at DNB
Does the DNB 2030 programme affect your role, or is there a departure proposal on the table?
This page explains your position under Dutch employment law, which applies to everyone working in the Netherlands, including highly skilled migrants and international staff. De Nederlandsche Bank is the independent central bank and supervisor of the Netherlands, with highly specialised staff: supervisors, economists, lawyers and data and IT specialists. In late 2025 DNB announced the DNB 2030 programme, a multi-year saving on its own organisation that comes with a loss of jobs. At the same time the work is changing: supervision is becoming more data-driven and the use of cash is declining. What surprises many staff is that although DNB feels like government, you have an ordinary employment contract there with your own collective agreement. You therefore fall under ordinary employment law, with the protection that goes with it. For you it is about whether your role moves along or shrinks, and what rights you have if it disappears.
Does this apply to you?
- Your role falls under the DNB 2030 savings
- Your work is changing through data-driven supervision or the decline of cash
- You are being reassigned or asked to take another role
- You are redundant, or you are taking it into account
- You have received a departure arrangement or settlement agreement
Why employees come to ReorgLegal
ReorgLegal specializes in reorganizations and works exclusively for employees, never for employers. We assess your proposal and stand beside you.
Do not wait too long. Reorganizations often come with short response deadlines. Have a proposal assessed before you agree to it.
The situation at DNB
At DNB the trigger is not that the organisation is in trouble, but a deliberate choice to save and to organise the work differently.
DNB 2030: an announced saving
With the DNB 2030 programme the bank wants to make its organisation cheaper and more future-proof in the coming years. DNB has itself indicated that this comes with a loss of jobs. How many roles it affects and which is not yet announced. The works council and the unions are involved in working it out.
The work is changing at the same time
The saving coincides with a change in substance. Supervision is becoming more data-driven and digital, while the use of cash is declining. As a result some roles grow, for instance in data and analysis, while more operational tasks shrink. For you, much depends on where your role sits in that movement.
A multi-year saving is worked out in steps. This page describes the situation in July 2026.
In brief
- DNB is the independent central bank and supervisor, based in Amsterdam
- DNB is a public limited company with the State as shareholder, but not a government service
- You have an employment contract under the DNB collective agreement; you are not a civil servant
- In late 2025 the DNB 2030 savings programme was announced
- The work is shifting towards data-driven supervision; cash is declining
- The works council and the unions are involved
DNB feels like government, but you fall under ordinary employment law
Because DNB has a public task, many staff think they are civil servants. They are not, and that is in fact to your advantage.
An employment contract with its own agreement
DNB is a public limited company whose shares are held by the State, but the bank is not a government service and you are not a civil servant. You work on the basis of an ordinary employment contract, under the DNB collective agreement. That means ordinary employment law applies, with the protection that goes with it.
What that protection means
If DNB wants to eliminate your role on economic grounds, the same rules apply as at a private employer: a review of the dismissal, the duty to examine reassignment first, the reflection principle in the selection and in principle a right to the statutory transition payment. Any social plan can come on top of that. So have it clarified which rules and arrangements apply in your case.
Want to know exactly what protection you have? Have it clarified.
Watch these points about your position
- That you are not a civil servant, but an employee with a contract
- That the DNB collective agreement and any social plan apply
- Whether your role grows or shrinks within DNB 2030
- Whether an offered role is genuinely suitable
- Whether retraining into other work is at issue
The work shifts, it does not just disappear
DNB 2030 is not only a minus sign on the budget. Supervision and payments are changing in substance, and that determines how your role is affected.
Data-driven supervision and less cash
Supervision relies more and more on data and digital analysis, while the use of cash is falling. Some roles therefore change shape, from operational to analysing and checking, and others decline in number. A change of role is not an automatic dismissal, but it can affect your tasks and your position.
Specialist work and reassignment
DNB works with highly specialist knowledge, from prudential supervision to monetary policy and data. That can make reassignment within the bank harder, because not every role is interchangeable with another. At the same time the reassignment obligation can reach further than your own department. So have it checked early which suitable roles within DNB come into view for you.
Is your role changing or disappearing through DNB 2030? Have it assessed.
Find this out
- Whether your role moves along or shrinks within DNB 2030
- Whether your role counts as interchangeable with another
- Which suitable roles within DNB are open to you
- What any social plan offers you
- Whether training or retraining is offered
How a reorganization at DNB unfolds
A dismissal on economic grounds goes through fixed statutory steps. At each of those steps you can have your position checked.
Justification and advice
DNB must make it plausible that your role is disappearing and put a reorganization to the works council for advice. If a reorganization affects many roles in a short period, the rules on collective redundancy may come into play; they only require notification to the UWV and consultation with the unions once the statutory conditions and threshold are met.
Selection and the reflection principle
Who is put forward for dismissal is not for the employer to decide freely. Where roles are interchangeable, the reflection principle essentially determines the order, subject to the statutory exceptions. Which group counts as the unit follows from the structure of the organization and the Dismissal Regulation.
Reassignment for specialist work
Before dismissal is at issue, it must be examined whether there is a suitable role for you, if necessary after training and within a reasonable period. What matters is whether those other positions belong to the company or group for which your employer has a reassignment obligation under Article 7:669 of the Dutch Civil Code and the Dismissal Regulation. With highly specialist work the range of suitable roles can be smaller, which makes this examination all the more important.
At each step there is something to do
- Ask whether your role is eliminated, changed or moves along
- Keep your employment contract, job description, payslips and the proposal
- Have someone check which group the reflection was applied to
- Ask which suitable roles within DNB are open to you
- Do not take a final decision before your position is assessed
What does this mean for you?
A reorganization at DNB follows the statutory rules for economic dismissal, supplemented by the DNB collective agreement and any social plan. On each of those points there is more to arrange than an announcement suggests.
The work shifts
Under DNB 2030 some roles grow with data-driven supervision, while operational tasks such as cash shrink. Often your role changes shape rather than disappearing, which raises different questions than a classic contraction.
A selection that can be checked
Within interchangeable roles, the reflection principle essentially determines who becomes redundant, subject to the statutory exceptions. Which unit counts depends on how DNB is structured and on the Dismissal Regulation.
Your compensation
If your employment ends on DNB's initiative and reassignment is not possible, there is in principle a right to the statutory transition payment, unless a statutory exception applies. If a social plan offers an additional provision, that is generally on top of it.
The settlement agreement
If you reach agreement on leaving, it is recorded in a settlement agreement, stating among other things your end date and the compensation. The exact wording partly determines whether you keep your unemployment benefit, so have the document checked before you sign.
What you can do now
If DNB 2030 affects your work, map out your position before you agree to another role or a departure. Because the plans are still being worked out, you stand stronger if you know early where you stand.
- Find out whether your role moves along, changes or shrinks within DNB 2030
- Keep your employment contract, job description and recent payslips
- Have the reflection recalculated if you may become redundant
- Ask which suitable roles within DNB are open to you
- Ask what any social plan offers you
- With many roles affected, see whether collective redundancy is at issue
- Have a settlement agreement reviewed before you sign
Is there a proposal for another role or a settlement agreement? Have us look at it before you sign.
When should you involve us?
- Your role falls under the DNB 2030 savings
- You are reassigned or offered another role
- You doubt whether an offered role is suitable
- You want to know whether a social plan offers more than the law
- Your response deadline is running and you want to know where you stand
Frequently asked questions
These are questions DNB employees put to us in practice.
Is there a proposal for another role, or a settlement agreement? Have us review it.
Isn't DNB government? So am I not a civil servant?
No. DNB is a public limited company with the State as shareholder, but you have an ordinary employment contract under the DNB collective agreement. You are not a civil servant, and ordinary employment law applies, with the protection that goes with it in a reorganization: reassignment, reflection and in principle the transition payment.
What does DNB 2030 mean for my job?
DNB 2030 is a multi-year saving that, according to DNB, comes with a loss of jobs. How many roles it affects and which is not yet known. If your role disappears, the ordinary rules on reassignment and reflection apply and a social plan may apply. Have your position assessed as the plans take firmer shape.
My work involves the decline of cash or is being digitalised. Will I become superfluous?
Digitalisation and the decline of cash often change the shape of a role rather than making it disappear: from operating to analysing or checking. If your task does shrink, it must first be examined whether there is a suitable role for you, if necessary after retraining. Have it assessed exactly what changes.
My role is highly specialist. What about reassignment?
Specialist work can make reassignment within DNB harder, because not every role is interchangeable. The reassignment obligation can, however, reach further than your own department. Have it clarified early which suitable roles within DNB are open to you and on what terms.
Received a settlement agreement? Get a free review.
Upload your agreement and we will assess your situation, free and without obligation. On business days we respond within 1 hour. Your legal fees are usually covered by your employer.
Start free review