The Dutch Central Bank, or DNB, said Monday it has taken control of struggling DSB Bank NV as talks with a consortium of Dutch banks failed to agree a support plan for it following recent heavy deposit withdrawals.

The DNB asked a Dutch court to be allowed to take control of DSB Bank after its solvency came "under great pressure" as account holders withdrew cash.

DSB Bank, a non-listed business with a balance sheet worth about EUR8 billion, hit difficulties after the Dutch financial authority, AFM, put it under investigation several weeks ago for allegedly trying to sell mortgage customers additional expensive insurance policies. AFM had previously fined DSB Bank EUR120,000 in August for making it a condition of loans that borrowers took out insurance.

In the past week two Dutch customer associations urged DSB Bank clients to withdraw their savings and deposits.

Over the weekend DNB, the finance ministry and a consortium of two listed Dutch banks, ING Groep NV (ING) and SNS Reaal NV (SR.AE), and three non-listed banks, Rabobank, ABN Amro and Fortis Bank Netherlands, attempted to find a solution to DSB Bank's problems. They finally decided that its financial situation was too risky, the Dutch Finance ministry said Monday.

The Dutch finance ministry also said that DSB Bank's problems were not caused by the credit crisis, but by the bank's own business practices and uncertainty among its customers.

DSB Bank account holders don't have immediate access to their money. However, the DNB said DSB Bank clients can open accounts with other banks without going through the usual application process which can usually takes several weeks. Under the Dutch deposit guarantee scheme, accounts of up to EUR100,000 are guaranteed by DNB and the scheme is funded jointly by the Dutch banks.

-By Bart Koster, Dow Jones Newswires; +31 20 571 5201; bart.koster@dowjones.com