Dutch regional gov't quits over Iceland investment

AMSTERDAM, June 10 (Reuters) - A Dutch regional government stepped down on Wednesday after it lost 78 million euros ($110 million) in savings at an Icelandic bank unit and a commission found it did not follow proper procedures.

The government of North Holland, a province in the northwest of the Netherlands where Amsterdam is located, said in a statement it wanted to take responsibility for the losses.

Parties in the regional parliament were in negotiations to form a new government.

The provincial authorities lost the funds they banked with Icesave, the Dutch unit of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which was nationalised by Iceland.

Dutch savers and regional authorities had put around 1.8 billion euros in Icesave, and the Dutch government compensated consumers up to 100,000 euros in savings. Cities and provinces were excluded from this arrangement.

Iceland agreed on Saturday to repay money to Britain and the Netherlands over the next 15 years. Britain has paid out 2.3 billion euros to UK Icesave clients, while the Netherlands has lent Iceland about 1.3 billion euros to pay Dutch clients. [ID: nL6279187]

The province has said it was still trying to get back some of the 78 million euros from Landsbanki. ($1=.7087 Euro) (Reporting by Gilbert Kreijger; Editing by Jon Boyle)