Yesterday, Dutch Minister of Finance Wouter Bos announced that the Dutch government will provide ABN Amro with "an additional and to be expected" capital injection of €3 billion in cash, as well as convert €1.4 billion in loans to the bank into equity. This additional capitalization is "necessary, advisable and prudent" for the purposes of facilitating ABN's proposed merger with Fortis Bank Nederland, NV, to comply with Dutch regulatory capital requirements, and to assist with ABN's proposed sale to Deutsche Bank AG of certain assets, including Hollandsche Bank-Unie NV and IFN Finance BV, in order to comply with European Commission requirements for state aid.