Gerrit Zalm

Gerrit Zalm (born 6 May 1952) is a retired Dutch politician of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) and businessman.

Zalm applied at the Free University Amsterdam in June 1969 majoring in Economics and obtaining an Bachelor of Economics degree in June 1971 before graduating with an Master of Economics degree in July 1975. Zalm worked as a civil servant from August 1975 until August 1994 for the department of Budgetary Affairs of the Ministry of Finance from August 1975 until May 1983 and as Deputy Director-General of the Department for Budgetary Affairs from February 1981 until May 1983 and for the Ministry of Economic Affairs as Deputy Director-General of the department for General Economic Policy from May 1983 until June 1985 and as Director-General of the department for General Economic Policy from June 1985 until January 1988. Zalm worked for the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB) from January 1988 until August 1994 as Deputy Director from 1 January 1988 until 1 January 1989 and as Director from 1 January 1989 until 22 August 1994. Zalm also worked as a distinguished professor of Political economy at the Free University Amsterdam from 1 January 1990 until 22 August 1994.

After the election of 1994 Zalm was appointed as Minister of Finance in the Cabinet Kok I, taking office on 22 August 1994. Zalm took a medical leave of absence from 4 June 1996 until 26 June 1996 during which Minister of Economic Affairs Hans Wijers served as acting Minister of Finance. Zalm was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after the election of 1998, taking office on 19 May 1998. Following the cabinet formation of 1998 Zalm continued as Minister of Finance in the Cabinet Kok II, taking office on 3 August 1998. The Cabinet Kok II resigned on 16 April 2002 following the conclusions of the NIOD report into the Srebrenica massacre during the Bosnian War and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the Leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy and Parliamentary leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in the House of Representatives Hans Dijkstal announced he was stepping down as Leader and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives following the defeat in the election of 2002, the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy leadership approached Zalm as his successor, Zalm accepted and became the Leader, taking office on 16 May 2002. After the election Zalm subsequently returned as a Member of the House of Representatives and became the Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives, taking office on 23 May 2002. The following cabinet formation of 2002 resulted in a coalition agreement between the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Pim Fortuyn List (LPF) which formed the Cabinet Balkenende I with Zalm opting to remain in the House of Representatives instead of accepting a cabinet post in the new cabinet and he continued to serve in the House of Representatives as Parliamentary leader, the Cabinet Kok II was replaced by the Cabinet Balkenende I on 22 July 2002. The Cabinet Balkenende I fell just four months later on 16 October 2002 after continuous tensions in the coalition and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. For the election of 2003 Zalm served as Lijsttrekker (top candidate). The People's Party for Freedom and Democracy made a small win, gaining 4 seats and now had 28 seats in the House of Representatives. The following cabinet formation of 2003 resulted in a coalition agreement between the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) and the Democrats 66 (D66) which formed the Cabinet Balkenende II with Zalm appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and again as Minister of Finance, taking office on 27 May 2003. Zalm served as acting Prime Minister of the Netherlands from 14 September until 15 October 2004 during a medical leave of absence of Jan Peter Balkenende, and delivered the Budget Memorandum of the 2005 fiscal year during Prinsjesdag. On 27 November 2004 Zalm announced that he was stepping down as Leader in favor of and Parliamentary leader in the House of Representatives and Deputy Leader Jozias van Aartsen. The Cabinet Balkenende II fell on 30 June 2006 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity with Zalm also serving as acting Minister of Economic Affairs from 3 July 2006 until 7 July 2006 until it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Balkenende III with Zalm remaining as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, taking office on 7 July 2006. In August 2006 Zalm announced his retirement from national politics and that he wouldn't stand for the election of 2006. The Cabinet Balkenende III was replaced by the Cabinet Balkenende IV following the cabinet formation of 2007 on 22 February 2007.

Zalm retired from national politics and became active in the private sector, in June Zalm was appointed as chief economist of the DSB Bank working from 1 July 2007 until 1 January 2008 when he became Chief financial officer (CFO) of the DSB Bank from 1 January 2008 until 1 January 2009. In December 2008 Zalm was nominated as CEO and Chairman of the Board of directors of ABN AMRO working from 1 January 2009 until 1 February 2017. On 1 April 2010 Zalm also became interim CEO and Chairman of the Board of directors of Fortis Bank Nederland until it was integrated into the new ABN AMRO Group on 1 July 2010 with Zalm appointed as CEO and Chairman of the Board of directors of the ABN AMRO Group working from 1 July 2010 until 1 February 2017. Zalm remained active in the private sector continues to occupy numerous seats as a corporate director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Royal Dutch Shell, Moody's Corporation and Danske Bank) and serves on several state commissions and councils on behalf of the government (Statistics Netherlands). After the election of 2017 Zalm was appointed as Informateur for the cabinet formation of 2017.

Zalm is known for his abilities as a manager and debater. He holds the distinction as the longest-serving Minister of Finance with 11 years, 240 days.

Early life

Gerrit Zalm was born on 6 May 1952 in Enkhuizen in the Province of North Holland. Following his graduation from high school ("HBS-A" level) in Enkhuizen, Zalm began a study in economics at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, from which he graduated in 1975. In the same year he joined the Ministry of Finance. From 1983 he worked for the Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he eventually became a director. In 1988 he was appointed deputy director of the Centraal Planbureau, a state institution that, among other things, calculates the financial effects of government plans. In 1989 he became director of this institute. In that capacity Zalm had, although not formally a politician, a significant influence on politics. From 1990 he also gave lectures at the Vrije Universiteit.

Politics

Between 22 August 1994 and 22 July 2002, Zalm, member of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, was Minister of Finance in the first and second Wim Kok administrations. The Dutch economy being very healthy during those years, he did not experience large difficulties. However, he did introduce certain standards that are in effect until now, among which the Zalmnorm (Zalm standard) which describes a state policy by which the state does not respond extremely to economic fluctuations but just counteracts them. During the first, short Balkenende administration, Zalm was the acting leader of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy group in parliament. On 27 May 2003 he started his third term as Minister of Finance, in the second Balkenende administration, also serving as Deputy Prime Minister. On 30 June 2006, he succeeded Laurens Jan Brinkhorst as Minister of Economic Affairs, ad interim, with most tasks delegated to Undersecretary Karien van Gennip. On 7 July 2006 Joop Wijn was appointed as the new Minister of Economic Affairs.

Banking

On 26 November 2006, Zalm announced in the Sunday morning talk show Buitenhof that he would step down from politics and would probably seek employment in the private sector. Three months after his 2007 retirement from politics, Zalm went to work for DSB Bank, a company that he had criticized in his earlier role as finance minister for what he considered misleading advertising for consumer credit. He initially held the position of chief economist, but quickly became CFO of the faltering bank after the Dutch central bank DNB had threatened to curtail DSB's financial autonomy.

On 21 November 2008 it was announced by Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende that Zalm will be the new CEO of the bank resulting from the merger of ABN and Fortis Netherlands, two recently nationalized banks. This new position came under scrutiny after Zalm's previous employer DSB went bankrupt in 2009. The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) and the central bank both investigated Zalm's role in DSB's final years, with AFM concluding that he was "not competent" and should be dismissed from ABN AMRO's board, while DNB decided to keep Zalm in his position.

Personal

Zalm is a fan of Pinball and during his second term as Minister of Finance he had a pinball machine in his department. He is an honorary member of the Dutch Pinball Association. In 2004 he had a cameo appearance in the movie Cool! by Theo van Gogh. In January 2019, in an episode of the Dutch version of Who Do You Think You Are?, it became known that Zalm is related to rebel leader and pirate Pier Gerlofs Donia, through his mother's family.