By Toby Sterling
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - ABN Amro's proposed stock market listing, expected to value the bank at more than 15 billion euros ($16.8 billion), could be delayed until next year, Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem said on Tuesday.
Addressing parliament in a debate over whether the nationalised bank should be re-privatised, Dijsselbloem said the initial public offering (IPO) is still possible in the autumn but that is not certain after a dispute over executive pay delayed the process for two months.
"Practically speaking, I don't know if it can happen by the end of the year," Dijsselbloem said.
"What counts for me is that the proceeds are good, that we can pay back the taxpayer as much as possible. If that means it's at the start of next year that's not a matter of political prestige to me."
ABN Amro was nationalised during the 2008 financial crisis in an operation that eventually cost Dutch taxpayers about 24 billion euros. After years of restructuring, the bank has a book value of 15.6 billion euros, which analysts say is a reasonable indication of its valuation at market.
Dijsselbloem postponed a decision to seek a listing for the bank in March after the lender's board approved pay raises of 100,000 euros each for top executives other than CEO Gerrit Zalm.
Amid a public outcry, executives eventually said they would not accept the pay raises, and in May the government formally recommended ABN Amro seek a listing.
Under Dijsselbloem's plan, the government will sell a 25 percent stake in the bank at the IPO and then reduce its holdings further over several years.
Parliament is expected to approve the decision on June 30.
($1 = 0.8949 euros)
(Editing by David Goodman)
