Dutch finance minister Wouter Bos is the first European minister to strongly endorse the restrictions on banks proposed by US president Barack Obama and his treasury secretary Timothy Geithner last week. Obama called for regulations to prevent financial institutions from becoming too big to fail and to separate risky banking activities from the parts that hold consumer savings.

"I will send a letter to Geithner this afternoon to tell him I wholeheartedly support the plans and will try to reinvigorate the debate about this in Europe," Bos said in an interview with NRC Handelsblad on Monday. "I also hope we can jointly put this on the agenda for the next G20."

The US president announced plans for the so-called Volcker Rule last Thursday, named after the former federal reserve chairman Paul Volcker, that prohibits banks having insured deposits from proprietary trading and invest in or sponsor hedge funds or private equity funds. He also proposed capping market shares.

What about the US plans makes you so happy?

"I said a year ago that I was uncomfortable with the European discussion on this issue, because it was only about a few regulations here and a little more oversight there. I raised the question at the time how the market could be reorganised, but no one picked up on it.

"In July I wrote a letter to Dutch parliament that focussed on the division between 'casino banks' and safe banks, but no one country can go at that alone. Again, I raised the issue in Europe, but British central bank president Mervyn King was the only one to respond to it in public. The most heard counter-argument in Europe has been that the biggest banking giants are in the US and it is up to that country to act first. That can’t be argued now anymore."

Your British counterpart Alistair Darling said he is against seperating financial institutions.

"I don't think this battle is over yet. We have to look at the topic at hand. Obama proposes shrinking banks by capping market shares. There are European countries that have very large banks which are important to their international economic position. Those countries have large treasuries they can use to bail out banks. So it comes as no surprise that the British and other big European countries are not enthousiastic about such a proposal. But in a small country with a limited treasury, like the Netherlands, it has become clear we can no longer guarantee the big international banks.

British concerns British chancellor Alistair Darling in an interview on Sunday voiced his concerns about the US government's plans to force big banks to hive off their risky activities. In a interview with The Sunday Times he warned the legal separation of traditional and risky activities does not guarantee stability, citing the bankruptcy of investment bank Lehman Brothers as an example. He also said size is not paramount. "The large-small thing doesn’t run. Northern Rock was very small in global terms but systemically it was quite important when it got into trouble.” He also criticised many countries’, including the US’, lack of a global approach in tackling the problem. "The banks are global — they are quite capable of organising themselves in such a way that if the regime is difficult in one country they will go to another one, and that doesn’t do anyone any good.” Darling vouched to keep London as a strong financial centre.

"I cannot, however, imagine the ministers of larger countries oppose prohibiting banks to use savings, guaranteed with tax payers' money, to be used for risky business."

Banks in the bigger EU countries, such as Deutsche Bank, Barclays and Société Genérale, make great profits by taking such risks at their own risk and expense.

"This is where we must really dare to distinguish between public and private interests. How banks make the greatest possible profits is not in the public interest. That they make a contribution to the real economy is."

Isn't this easy for you to say? The largest Dutch banks have already dropped many of their risky activities.

"It is true these regulations would not affect us so much. ABN Amro has already been reduced in size and ING is scaling down. The playing field between bigger and smaller countries will be levelled once these measures are adopted by all. I expect the support of the smaller European countries for this. The US are now brave enough to tackle their big banks, China and its huge banks and the bigger European countries should follow."

Will it be difficult to put this on the G20's agenda?

"It shouldn't be too hard now that the US are on board. And other countries have not yet come up with their own solution for not letting tax payers foot the bill of the financial industry."