The Employers' Association for Banks (WVB) acts as an employer's party when entering into the Collective Labor Agreement Banks (CLA Banks) and promotes the social interests of its members. Members of the association can only be:

  • Companies and institutions that directly or indirectly have their activity in the field of banking and as such have a license to carry on the business of a bank in the Netherlands.
  • Companies and institutions that have activities within or closely related to the banking business and financial institutions that perform service and interbank activities for banks.

In addition, members of the WVB must also be members of the NVB.

In practice, there is a diverse palette of WVB members, consisting of 24 medium-sized and smaller banks and financial institutions with a branch in the Netherlands. For two thirds of them, the head office is located outside the Netherlands. This means that a total of approximately 4,000 employees fall within the scope of the CLA Banks.

Members are closely involved in the WVB in general and the CLA Banks in particular. The most important reasons given by members for their membership are:

  • Members are unburdened in the development of their employment conditions policy.
  • The CLA Banks offers a framework agreement while sufficient flexibility remains at the organizational level for customized choices.
  • The CLA Banks provides foreign members with market-based guidelines for their employment conditions policy in the Netherlands.
  • Membership gives access to a diverse network of HR professionals in the banking sector.
  • Member meetings offer the opportunity to share knowledge and experience in the socio-economic field and current HR themes, such as labor market developments, sustainable employability and vitality, developments surrounding hybrid working and upcoming legislation and regulations.

The WVB has a board consisting of a chairman (Maurice van Broek, Head Human Resources at BNG Bank) and a secretary/treasurer (Harma Sikma, Head of Human Resources & Facility at Norinchukin Bank). Alle de Vries (Director/Country Head NL & Sweden at Deutsche Bank), who performed the role of secretary/treasurer until March 12, will resign as director on April 1, 2024. The secretariat of the association is run by Ellen Kok, Manager Labor Affairs at the NVB.