Former ABN Amro Executive Committed Suicide, Killed Wife, Daughter, Police Say -- Update

By Maarten van Tartwijk 

AMSTERDAM--A former senior executive at Dutch bank ABN Amro Group NV committed suicide after killing his wife and daughter in their home, Dutch police said Monday.

The police said that Jan Peter Schmittmann, 57, killed his wife Nelly, 57, and his youngest daughter, Babette, 22, and then took his own life. A goodbye letter was found in the home, they said.

The bodies of the family were found Saturday in their villa in the village of Laren, around 20 miles southeast of Amsterdam. The daughter was confirmed to be mentally disabled. The oldest daughter, 25, wasn't home at the time, the police said.

The police said it wouldn't disclose more details about the deaths or the contents of the suicide note.

"We are deeply shocked and dismayed by this incredible news," Mr. Schmittmann's family said in a statement. "We knew that Jan Peter wrestled with severe depressions. That this eventually led to these events is still incomprehensible."

Although not connected, the tragedy is the latest in a series of suicides in the financial industry. In January, a senior executive at Deutsche Bank AG, William Broeksmit, committed suicide as he was dogged by concerns about a government investigation into the bank.

And in 2009, another former senior executive of ABN Amro, Huibert Boumeester, killed himself outside London.

Mr. Schmittmann had been a longtime executive at ABN Amro until he was forced to resign in the wake of the bank's nationalization in 2008. He was heavily criticized over the size of his severance package, but signaled in recent interviews with Dutch media that public outrage was calming.

ABN Amro was one of Europe's biggest banks with an empire stretching from Europe to the U.S. to Brazil. In 2007, it was sold and broken up by a group including Belgian-Dutch Fortis NV/SA, the U.K.'s Royal Bank of Scotland PLC and Spain's Banco Santander.

Valued at roughly $100 billion, it was one of the biggest corporate deals ever, but now widely seen as one of the worst. The acquisition nearly brought down Fortis and RBS when the financial crisis struck, with both needing government support.

Mr. Schmittmann, who joined ABN Amro in 1983, played an important role in the aftermath of the acquisition. He led ABN Amro's Dutch operations in the years before the takeover and stayed in his job to oversee the merger with Fortis' Dutch assets.

His career in banking came to an end in 2009, when government officials pressed for his resignation after the nationalization. The size of his severance package--which totaled EUR8 million ($11 million)--made him the subject of public scorn.

He defended the payout by saying that the problems were caused by Fortis, and not by ABN Amro, where he had spent most of his career.

A Dutch court in 2009 ruled that the package was justified, as it was less than half of the money to which Mr. Schmittmann was contractually entitled. Mr. Schmittmann later described the government's handling of the case as "distasteful."

After his departure, he joined an investment firm and held supervisory roles with several small startup companies. He also chaired a charity foundation of former Dutch tennis player and Wimbledon champion, Richard Krajicek.

The deaths have sent a shock wave trough the relatively small banking industry in the Netherlands, where Mr. Schmittmann was still widely known.

"We are in shock. This is terrible," an ABN Amro spokesman said about the events, hours before the police announcement was released.

Write to Maarten van Tartwijk at [e-mail]

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