BRUSSELS, Sept 29: Fortis admitted on Monday that past errors had triggered the crisis that required the Benelux nations to hammer out a 11.2-billion-euro bailout over the weekend.

Despite assurances last week it had ample funding, Fortis was forced to turn to the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments for help, amounting to 16 billion dollars, late on Sunday after efforts to find a foreign suitor for the banking and insurance group failed.

While blaming market “speculation” and “rumours” for a sharp slide in Fortis shares last week, newly-appointed chief executive Filip Dierckx acknowledged that strategic mistakes also played a part in the group’s woes.

“I am ... not going to deny that if you look at some of the decisions that were taken in the past then you can say that probably they were done at the wrong moment,” he told journalists and analysts in a conference call.

“If you want me to say that there were some decisions that were not the best I will indeed confirm,” added Dierckx, who took up his post after predecessor Herman Verwilst was unexpectedly moved aside on Friday.

Dierckx, who took over with the company’s shares in freefall, highlighted last year’s involvement in the buyout of Dutch group ABN Amro as a key mistake.

“Clearly indeed there was bad timing in the ABN Amro deal,” he said.

Fortis paid 24 billion euros for its part in a consortium buy-out for ABN Amro at the height of the market, but by Sunday the figure of 10 billion euros was being mentioned as a possible selling price.

The new Fortis chief, who admitted he had got little sleep over the weekend as the state bailout talks unfurled, said he “felt a very strong commitment from a lot of parties involved to solve and to come to a good solution.

“I think personally it is a very good agreement.” Earlier Belgian Finance Minister Didier Reynders insisted that the partial nationalisation of Fortis was only a temporary measure to support the bank.

“Our ambition is clearly not to remain present as shareholders,” Reynders told public radio RTBF.

After seeing nearly a quarter of its stock market value wiped out over the last week, shares in Fortis opened up nearly 15 per cent on Monday but later retreated to close down 23.71 per cent at 3.967 euros.

The group has seen 78 per cent of its stock market value disappear since the start of the year.

Under the hastily arranged rescue, Belgium will make the biggest contribution, taking a 49 per cent stake in the Belgian arm of the company, Fortis Bank NV/SA, for 4.7 billion euros.

The Dutch government will take a 49 per cent stake in the Dutch arm, Fortis Bank Nederland Holding, for 4.0 billion euros and Luxembourg will buy a 49 per cent stake in Fortis Banque Luxembourg for 2.5 billion euros through a convertible loan.

The rescue also foresees the sale of Fortis’ recently acquired interest in Dutch bank ABN Amro and the departure of its chairman Maurice Lippens.

European Commission spokesman Jonathan Todd said that Europe’s top antitrust watchdog would be “in close touch” with Belgian authorities about the bailout.

“If there is any state aid element involved we will look at it as a matter of urgency,” he told AFP.

The drama surrounding Fortis was also a sign that Europe’s weakest banks were unlikely to emerge unscathed from the US-born crisis currently roiling the financial sector.

The British government meanwhile on Monday announced the nationalisation of British bank Bradford and Bingley. BB’s savings business, its best asset, will be sold to Spanish bank Santander.

Separately, the French and Belgian governments said that they were ready if needed to step in to support the bank Dexia, which saw nearly a third of its stock market value evaporate on Monday.

Meanwhile, the German government said it has provided 35 billion euros in guarantees for an emergency credit line by a consortium of private banks to German bank Hypo Real Estate, a struggling mortgage company. — AFP