Amsterdam - The Netherlands late Thursday made available another 20 billion euros to shore up the liquidity of banks embattled by the global financial crisis, Finance Minister Wouter Bos said.

Dutch central bank chief Nout Wellink said the funds would be made available for all financial firms that need it, including insurance groups.

The move comes one day after Icesave bank Netherlands, the Dutch subsidiary of Icelandic Landsbanki, on Wednesday said it could no longer meet its financial obligations and blocked access to the savings accounts of its 120,000 clients.

The government in the Hague last month spent 16.8 billion euros to nationalize the Dutch part of Belgian-Dutch insurance giant Fortis. (dpa)