AMSTERDAM (Bloomberg) — ABN Amro Holding NV and Fortis Bank Nederland Holding NV, bought by the Dutch state last year, may cut as many as 5,000 jobs, or 17 percent of the workforce, by 2012 as the Netherlands merges the businesses.

"We expect a reduction of between 5,500 to 6.500 jobs" and that about 1,500 new posts will be created, ABN Amro spokesman Jeroen van Maarschalkerweerd said. Cost savings will amount to as much as 1.3 billion euros ($1.8 billion) by 2012, he said.

The Netherlands bought Fortis's Dutch banking and insurance units and its stake in ABN Amro for 16.8 billion euros in October, after the parent company ran out of short-term funding as customers withdrew deposits and credit markets froze.

The Dutch state will "certainly be involved" at the combined banking businesses through 2011, Finance Minister Wouter Bos said in Dutch television program RTL-Z. "We knew from the start that cost savings and job cuts were also part of the takeover of ABN Amro and the integration with Fortis," Bos said.